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This paper provides novel evidence on status goods, using a series of field experiments with an Indonesian bank that markets platinum credit cards to high-income customers. In a first experiment, the paper shows that demand for the platinum card greatly exceeds demand for a nondescript control product with identical benefits, suggesting demand for the pure status aspect of the card. Transaction data reveal that platinum cards are more likely to be used in social contexts, implying social image motivations. Combining price variation with information on the use of the card sheds light on the magnitude of the demand for social status. A second experiment provides evidence of positional externalities from the consumption of these status goods. The final experiment shows that increasing self-esteem causally reduces demand for status goods. This suggests that part of the demand for status is psychological in nature, and that social image is a substitute for self-image.

Conspicuous Consumption --- Social Signaling --- Status Goods

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Ethylene is a simple gaseous phytohormone with multiple roles in regulation of metabolism at cellular, molecular, and whole plant level. It influences performance of plants under optimal and stressful environments by interacting with other signaling molecules. Understanding the ethylene biosynthesis and action through the plant’s life can contribute to improve the knowledge of plant functionality and use of this plant hormone may drive adaptation and defense of plants from the adverse environmental conditions. The action of ethylene depends on its concentration in cell and the sensitivity of plants to the hormone. In recent years, research on ethylene has been focused, due to its dual action, on the regulation of plant processes at physiological and molecular level. The involvement of ethylene in the regulation of transcription needs to be widely explored involving the interaction with other key molecular regulators. The aim of the current research topic was to explore and update our understanding on its regulatory role in plant developmental mechanisms at cellular or whole plant level under optimal and changing environmental conditions. The present edited volume includes original research papers and review articles describing ethylene’s regulatory role in plant development during plant ontogeny and also explains how it interacts with biotic and abiotic stress factors. This comprehensive collection of researches provide evidence that ethylene is essential in different physiological processes and does not always work alone, but in coordinated manner with other plant hormones. This research topic is also a source of tips for further works that should be addressed for the biology and molecular effects on plants.

Ethylene --- Phytohormones --- Tolerance --- Physiology --- Metaboilsm --- Signaling molecules --- Ethylene --- Phytohormones --- Tolerance --- Physiology --- Metaboilsm --- Signaling molecules

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Plant organ abscission is a developmental process regulated by the environment, stress, pathogens and the physiological status of the plant. In particular, seed and fruit abscission play an important role in seed dispersion and plant reproductive success and are common domestication traits with important agronomic consequences for many crop species. Indeed, in natural populations, shedding of the seed or fruit at the correct time is essential for reproductive success, while for crop species the premature or lack of abscission may be either beneficial or detrimental to crop productivity. The use of model plants, in particular Arabidopsis and tomato, have led to major advances in our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying organ abscission, and now many workers pursue the translation of these advances to crop species. Organ abscission involves specialized cell layers called the abscission zone (AZ), where abscission signals are perceived and cell separation takes place for the organ to be shed. A general model for plant organ abscission includes (1) the differentiation of the AZ, (2) the acquisition of AZ cells to become competent to respond to various abscission signals, (3) response to signals and the activation of the molecular and cellular processes that lead to cell separation in the AZ and (4) the post-abscission events related to protection of exposed cells after the organ has been shed. While this simple four-phase framework is helpful to describe the abscission process, the exact mechanisms of each stage, the differences between organ types and amongst diverse species, and in response to different abscission inducing signals are far from elucidated. For an organ to be shed, AZ cells must transduce a multitude of both endogenous and exogenous signals that lead to transcriptional and cellular and ultimately cell wall modifications necessary for adjacent cells to separate. How these key processes have been adapted during evolution to allow for organ abscission to take place in different locations and under different conditions is unknown. The aim of the current collection of articles is to present and be able to compare recent results on our understanding of organ abscission from model and crop species, and to provide a basis to understand both the evolution of abscission in plants and the translation of advances with model plants for applications in crop species.

signaling --- transcription --- auxin --- Arabidopsis --- tomato --- Organ abscission --- cell wall --- fruit abscission --- ethylene --- abscission zone --- signaling --- transcription --- auxin --- Arabidopsis --- tomato --- Organ abscission --- cell wall --- fruit abscission --- ethylene --- abscission zone

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Biotic and abiotic stress factors deliver a huge impact on plant life. Biotic stress factors such as damage through pathogens or herbivore attack, as well as abiotic stress factors like variation in temperature, rainfall and salinity, have placed the plant kingdom under constant challenges for survival. As a consequence, global agricultural and horticultural productivity has been disturbed to a large extent. Being sessile in nature, plants cannot escape from the stress, and instead adapt changes within their system to overcome the adverse conditions. These changes include physiological, developmental and biochemical alterations within the plant body which influences the genome, proteome and metabolome profiles of the plant. Since proteins are the ultimate players of cellular behavior, proteome level alterations during and recovery period of stress provide direct implications of plant responses towards stress factors. With current advancement of modern high-throughput technologies, much research has been carried out in this field. This e-book highlights the research and review articles that cover proteome level changes during the course or recovery period of various stress factors in plant life. Overall, the chapters in this e-book has provided a wealth of information on how plants deal with stress from a proteomics perspective.

Infection --- signaling events during stress --- Quantitative Proteomics --- heavy metal stress --- plant proteomics --- drought --- high temperature --- Salinity

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Eukaryotic cells contain distinct membrane-bound organelles, which compartmentalise cellular proteins to fulfil a variety of vital functions. Many organelles have long been regarded as isolated and static entities (e.g., peroxisomes, mitochondria, lipid droplets), but it is now evident that they display dynamic changes, interact with each other, share certain proteins and show metabolic cooperation and cross-talk. Despite great advances in the identification and characterisation of essential components and molecular mechanisms associated with the biogenesis and function of organelles, information on how organelles interact and are incorporated into metabolic pathways and signaling networks is just beginning to emerge. Organelle cooperation requires sophisticated targeting systems which regulate the proper distribution of shared proteins to more than one organelle. Organelle motility and membrane remodeling support organelle interaction and contact. This contact can be mediated by membrane proteins residing on different organelles which can serve as molecular tethers to physically link different organelles together. They can also contribute to the exchange of metabolites and ions, or act in the assembly of signaling platforms. In this regard organelle communication events have been associated with important cellular functions such as apoptosis, antiviral defense, organelle division/biogenesis, ROS metabolism and signaling, and various metabolic pathways such as breakdown of fatty acids or cholesterol biosynthesis. In this research topic we will focus on recent novel findings on the underlying molecular mechanisms and physiological significance of organelle interaction and cooperation with a particular focus on mitochondria, peroxisomes, endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes and lipid droplets and their impact on the regulation of cellular homeostasis. Our understanding of how organelles physically interact and use cellular signaling systems to coordinate functional networks between each other is still in its infancy. Nevertheless recent discoveries of defined membrane structures such as the mitochondria-ER associated membranes (MAM) are revealing how membrane domains enriched in specific proteins transmit signals across organelle boundaries, allowing one organelle to influence the function of another. In addition to its role as a mediator between mitochondria and the ER, contacts between the MAM and peroxisomes contribute to antiviral signaling, and specialised regions of the ER are supposed to initiate peroxisome biogenesis, whereas intimate contacts between peroxisomes, lipid droplets and the ER mediate lipid metabolism. In line with these observations it is tempting to speculate that further physical contact sites between other organelles exist. Alternatively, novel regulated vesicle trafficking pathways between organelles (e.g., mitochondria to peroxisomes or lysosomes) have been discovered implying another mode of organelle communication. Identifying the key molecular players of such specialised membrane structures will be a prerequisite to understand how organelle communication is physically accomplished and will lead to the identification of new regulatory networks. In addition to the direct transmission of interorganellar information, cytosolic messenger systems (e.g., kinase/phosphatase systems or redox signaling) may contribute to the coordination of organelle functions. This research topic will integrate new findings from both modes of communication and will provide new perspectives for the functional significance of cross-talk among organelles. We would like to thank all the researchers who contributed their valuable work to this research topic. Furthermore, we are grateful to the reviewers and Associate Editors who contributed valuable comments and positive criticism to improve the contributions.

lipid droplet --- organelle dynamics --- Peroxisomes --- Mitochondria --- Organelle communication --- membrane contact sites --- Intracellular signaling --- Endoplasmic Reticulum