9TH PLANT NITRIC OXIDE INTERNATIONAL MEETING (PNO9)

Nitric oxide (NO), earlier considered to be a pollutant, has since become one of the most widely studied molecule in animal and plant physiology. Starting from 1980s the studies on NO in biological system have expanded significantly and its pivotal role in various physiological processes have bestowed it with accolades such as “Molecule of the Year” in 1992 by science and the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine (1998), awarded jointly to Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad. Contemporary researches by Lowell A. Klepper in 1979 showed NO release from plant system upon herbicide treatments inhibiting photosynthesis. Significant researches in the ensuing 43 years since then have expanded the role of NO in plant systems. NO plays significant roles in plant growth and metabolism starting from germination, meristem formation and maintenance, root growth under normal physiological conditions. Its role under stress becomes even more important as it mediates development of numerous processes such as; development of adaptive responses under flooding, mediation of plant-microbe interaction during pathogenesis, modulation of plant metabolism via regulation of mitochondrial components under stress etc.