NEWS FROM
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
 |
 |
Published monthly on behalf of SPPS by Wiley-Blackwell.
 |
|
|
|
 |
Nicotine-free tobacco with a zest of tomato
|
Crossing potatoes and tomatoes never turned out well, but a chimeric tobacco and tomato plant may prove more successful. Tobacco is susceptible to salt and soil salinity is an increasing problem in some tobacco growing regions of Southern Europe. Tomato is, however, much more salt tolerant and this prompted Juan Ruiz and colleagues from University of Granada, Spain to graft tobacco scions on tomato rootstocks. The results were promising, the grafted tobacco plants yielded up to 54% more foliar biomass than non-grafted plants when grown in 100 mM NaCl. In normal tobacco plants, nicotine is synthesized in the root, so it turned out that the chimeric tobacco plants - in addition to being salt tolerant - virtually lacked any nicotine in the leaves. With 99% reduced nicotine levels, tobacco grafted on tomato rootstocks might be an alternative for reducing the harmful effects of cigarette smoking.
Read full article free: Ruiz et al (August 2005) Physiologia Plantarum 124: 465-475
|
|
NEWS IN BRIEF
FROM OTHER JOURNALS
|
|
Natural kanamycin resistance-gene in Arabidopsis
|
|
Source: Mentewab & Stewart Jr (September 2005) Nature Biotechnology 23: 1177-1180
|
|
|
|
Phytate-free seeds good for animals and environment
|
|
Source: Stevenson-Paulik et al (30 August 2005) PNAS 102: 12612-12617
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Successful transformation of Physiologia Plantarum
|
| |
|
|
Physiologia Plantarum presented its new cover January 2005. Graphic by Gorm Palmgren.
|
|
|
During the last 6 months, the SPPS journal Physiologia Plantarum has undergone a significant transformation. A transformation that has made one of the most highly acknowledged plant journals even better.
The changes were decided on in 2004 by journal representatives and was formulated in a strategic plan (see former article in SPPS Newsletter) that should lead to an increase in both impact factor and number of submitted manuscripts.
Most of the changes have now been turned into reality and they include:- Shorter publication and production times
- New Asian editors
- More minireviews and special issues
- Online submission and access
- New layout
The new initiatives have already proven effective and the most recent survey has revealed that the impact factor of Physiologia Plantarum has now jumped from 1.767 to 2.017.
| |
|
|
Articles from Physiologia Plantarum back to 1990 can be downloaded from the website.
|
|
|
Physiologia Plantarum is well known for their Minireviews and now this popular feature has been expanded by the publication of Special Issues that contain several reviews focusing on recent advances in a selected field.
Together with another type of articles, Technical Focus, these special features have become very popular and attract many readers. Indeed, these three categories are now among the most popular downloads from the journal's website.
Editor-in-Chief Professor Per Gardeström from Umeå Plant Science Centre in Sweden hopes that more downloads (i.e. more readers) will lead to more citations, and thus to an increase in the important impact factor. Evaluation of recent statistics seems to suggest such a correlation, since the most cited papers from 2004 were also among the most downloaded articles.
Asian scientists have long shown a good interest in Physiologia Plantarum and the journal has an increasing number of both readers and authors from the region. In recognition of this, four new members from Korea and China have been included in the editorial board. These are Professor Hong Gil Nam from Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea; Professor Hyung Taeg Cho from Chungnam National University, Korea; Professor Jianru Zuo from Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; and Professor Zhizhong Gong from China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
| |
|
|
A new lighter and sharper layout (right) was introduced in the May 2005 issue. Graphic by Gorm Palmgren.
|
|
|
Making the whole process almost entirely electronic has speeded up production and publication times.
Most manuscripts are now submitted electronically, manuscripts and proofs are distributed in electronic PDF-format and accepted manuscripts are immediately published on the journal's website. In addition to a new cover design introduced in January 2005, the article layout was changed into a more modern look from May 2005.
Professor Michael Gjedde Palmgren, KVL, Denmark - who was elected Journal Responsible on the last SPPS General Assembly - is currently considering whether Physiologia Plantarum should be indexed in Medline. Medline is a searchable database for scientific literature, primarily in the field of medicine. Medline can be accessed over the Internet through its own portal, but also through the popular PubMed database.
| |
|
|
Physiologia Plantarum is not yet fully indexed in Medline. Graphic by Gorm Palmgren.
|
|
|
Though Medline focuses on medical literature, Michael Gjedde Palmgren sees good reasons that Physiologia Plantarum should be indexed as well. Plants and animals - including humans - share several genes and considerable genetic information, and accordingly plant genetic data can shed light over gene function in humans.
Furthermore, plants contain numerous natural substances of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry, and knowledge of their synthetic pathway is valuable in biochemistry and other scientific fields.
Some articles from Physiologia Plantarum are presently indexed in Medline, but this is based on a rather random process that only includes papers with keywords of particular medical relevance. To be fully indexed a journal must apply to Medline, and Michael Gjedde Palmgren is currently evaluating whether this would be worthwhile.
You can find more information about Physiologia Plantarum on the journals official website.
|
|
