About the Cover
On the Cover: Ornamental tobacco is a compact plant that flowers indeterminately, producing large numbers of blossoms. These flowers each produce such copious quantities of floral nectar that the nectar drips from the floral tube. Nectar from ornamental tobacco contains a limited array of nectar proteins, termed nectarins. In this issue, Naqvi et al. (pp. 1389-1400) isolate Nectarin IV (NEC4) and characterize it as a potent inhibitor of fungal xyloglucan-specific endoglucanases, cell wall degrading enzymes that enable fungi to penetrate plant cell walls. The characterization ofNEC4as a defense factor providesnewinsights into the function of floral nectar and the floral nectary.
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Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Plant Biologists
