Cover illustration: The cover photographs each show a stage (0-4) during the floral development of the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. The yellow receptacle tissue, visible at the centre of the flower in the fourth panel, is capable of maintaining a temperature of between 32-36 °C in the face of ambient temperatures ranging from 8-40 °C. The thermal image (inset) shows the much warmer receptacle tissue glowing yellow (it is even warmer than the hand to the left of the flower). Grant et al. report that coarse regulation of heating during floral development occurs at the level of gene expression, with AOX protein content of receptacle tissues rising significantly immediately prior to the onset of heating (stage 1), remaining high during the thermoregulatory stages (stages 1-3), and declining rapidly on transition to the non-thermogenic stage (stage 4). However, finer regulation of heating during stages 1-3 is likely to involve post-translational modification of AOX. (Cover photographs and layout by David Hollingworth; thermal image by SA Robinson; see Grant et al., pp. 705-714.)
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