When it comes to fixing carbon, plants have nothing on soil bacteria that can do it 20 times faster. The secret is an enzyme that “juggles” reaction ingredients. Scientists hope to optimize this process for producing fuels, antibiotics and other products from CO2.
The cowpea mosaic virus has shown great promise as an experimental cancer immunotherapy for treating and preventing recurrence of various cancers. But just how the virus triggers such a potent anti-cancer immune response has remained a mystery. A new study digs deeper and provides answers.
Hop give your beer rich flavor profiles
The tall elephant’s foot — low growing from a center arrangement of leaves, known as a rosette — have greater leverage to push, according to the study. Findings may also apply to other low-hovering plants, such as aloe or agave.
Because next-generation biofuels will depend on the growth and hardiness of woody feedstocks, scientists have sought to better understand how leaf cells quickly respond to environmental cues such as light, temperature and water. Scientists at the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, or CBI, have studied rapid molecular changes in leaves from poplar trees during normal daily cycles of daylight and darkness. Until now, the effect of these modifications at the cellular protein level was not well understood, partly because of the technical limitations of the analytical tools available.
The Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) is pleased to announce our partnership with our new advisory board member, Stephen Ritz, and his non-profit, Green Bronx Machine.
Two fertilizers shown as viable sources to winter hardy rye
Peatlands store a significant amount of carbon, and researchers expect that peatland plants respond to warming climates will influence future carbon uptake and storage. To better understand this mechanism, especially below ground level, researchers conducted experiments on ecosystem warming. They found that warming and the resulting soil drying significantly increased the growth of fine roots, which may indicate peatlands’ ability to adapt to changing conditions.
A Cornell University study describes a breakthrough in the quest to improve photosynthesis in certain crops, a step toward adapting plants to rapid climate changes and increasing yields to feed a projected 9 billion people by 2050.
A new UC Riverside study shows it’s not how much extra water you give your plants, but when you give it that counts.
Scientists at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) have recorded the first North American case of a harmful phytoplasma disease known for its threat to fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops in South America and the Middle East. These same crops are economically important to Florida and in parts of the U.S. To make matters worse, scientists confirmed the host for the disease to be one of the most noxious and rapidly spreading weeds commonly found in a wide range of environments throughout the United States and into Canada.
University of Miami associate professor Kenneth Feeley and graduate student Riley Fortier were part of a research group that rediscovered a plant called Gasteranthus extinctus, named to anticipate its extinction.
Scientific names get chosen for lots of reasons-- they can honor an important person, or hint at what an organism looks like or where it’s from. For a tropical wildflower first described by scientists in 2000, the scientific name “extinctus” was a warning.
A species of bacteria that infect corn crops compel their hosts to produce a feast of nutrients that keeps the pathogens alive and thriving long before they start to kill the plant’s cells, new research shows.
Reducing tillage with cover crops can benefit soil health with no effect on pumpkin yield
Climate change doesn’t just mean warmer weather. Cold spells can hit unusual lows, too, and the fluctuations between warm and chilly are becoming more extreme.
Modern methods of creating plant-based meat can yield high optical similarities and targeted molecular-sensory methods, but on a molecular scale, it appears completely different from the food it tries to mimic. In Physics of Fluids, scientists investigate the molecular function and effects of vegetable proteins of different origins to identify sensory weak points in plant-based substitutes, employing rheology and tribology and bringing greater insight than pure sensory analyses. They said muscle proteins emulsify fats and oils in a very different way while lending to a different biting behavior.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists used protoplast fusion to create genetically diverse Bacillus organisms to aid in genome mapping, which advances the engineering of microbes for efficient biofuel processing.
Safe dietary supplements developed at Tel Aviv University might help protect the body against Covid-19 and a range of winter illnesses.
There is no “Swiss Army Knife” of herbicides, you must match the tool (the chemistry) to the task (the weed) – “the right tool for the job”
An assistant biology professor at the University of Oregon has high hopes that a pilot study could change how forestlands in the Northwest are managed, particularly post-harvest and post-fire, to the benefit of the humble, and troubled, wild bee.
Plants, like people, rely on essential nutrients to stay healthy
With the help of the CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors, genetic information in a plant can be modified to make the latter more robust to pests, diseases, or extreme climatic conditions. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed this method further to eliminate the complete DNA of specific cell types and, thus, prevent their formation during plant development. This will also help to better understand development mechanisms in plants. The findings are presented in Nature Communications. (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29130-w)
Cardamonin — a natural compound found in the spice cardamom and other plants — could have therapeutic potential for triple-negative breast cancer, according to a new study using human cancer cells. The findings also show that the compound targets a gene that helps cancer cells elude the immune system.
Researchers combined advanced computational methods with experimental studies to gain new insight, at the cell level, into how the plant compound formononetin might be used to treat food allergies. With nearly 10% of the world population affected by food allergies — which are sometimes life-threatening — new treatments are critically needed.
Virginia Tech researchers, in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, have discovered that key parts of the global carbon cycle used to track movement of carbon dioxide in the environment are not correct, which could significantly alter conventional carbon cycle models. This finding has the potential to change predictions for climate change, though it is unclear at this juncture if the mismatch will result in more or less carbon dioxide being accounted for in the environment.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (March 30, 2022) — Plants rely on their ability to sense light for survival. But unlike animals, plants don’t have eyes full of photoreceptors to capture and convey messages from visual stimuli. Instead, plants are coated with a network of light-sensing photoreceptors that detect different wavelengths of light, allowing them to regulate their lifecycles and adjust to environmental conditions.
Researchers have combined macro photography with DNA metabarcoding to create a new botanical “CSI” tool that may hold the key to safeguarding the future of Australia’s critically endangered carnivorous plants.
In research led by Elizabeth Hénaff, with collaborators from Yale University In this new study explore how active plant-based systems may address air pollutions. The researchers investigated relationships between plant species choice, growth media design (hydroponic versus organic), and factors of design-related performance such as weight, water content, and air flow rate through growth media.
Recently, researchers at Spero Renewables, a California-based green technology company, tapped into Idaho National Laboratory's (INL) Technical Assistance Program to work with researchers at the Biomass Feedstocks National User Facility. The program provides U.S.-based small businesses with access to INL experts and unique capabilities at no cost. Spero is using environmentally friendly practices to manufacture renewable chemicals from plant-based materials.
A team of researchers working with the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has discovered a pathway to encourage a type of lignin formation in plants that could make the processing of crops grown for products such as sustainable jet fuels easier and less costly.
An obscure species of wild grass contains “blockbuster” disease resistance that can be cross bred into wheat to give immunity against one of the deadliest crop pathogens.
University of South Australia researchers are calling for new national planning policies to mandate the inclusion of trees in any future housing developments and architectural designs.
Chula Master in Engineering student’s research on turning the cellulose in eucalyptus pulp into plastic substitutes with added antiseptic property hopes to help lower cost, and branch out into various environmental and human-friendly products.
A new study led by Georgia Tech points to possible help for restoring marine ecosystems — and provides more data on the role microbes play in marsh plant health and productivity.
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The goo from okra is known to thicken stews, but it can also clean water of some types of pollutants. Now, researchers report that combinations of okra and other food-grade plant extracts can remove microplastics from wastewater. They will present their results at ACS Spring 2022.
Two newly released grape varieties, developed collaboratively between Cornell AgriTech and Sun World International, a global fruit genetics and licensing company, offer new flavors for consumers and better growing characteristics for farmers.
Most people would say the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t been a great couple of years. But for the green industry, like plant nurseries and greenhouses, it’s been a boon. But will the uptick in gardening last once the last coronavirus restrictions are lifted? Probably not to the same extreme levels, according to new research from the University of Georgia. But for some, the introduction to gardening may have been just what they needed to dive into a new hobby.
Jalene LaMontagne, associate professor of ecology, and Windsor Aguirre, associate professor of evolutionary biology, are among hundreds of researchers who collected clover in 160 cities all over the world. The research, published this week in the journal “Science,” offers insight into how urbanization is transforming the genetic properties of plants and animals around us.
Monarch butterflies, one of the most iconic insects of North America, are increasingly plagued by a debilitating parasite, a major new analysis shows.
Humans reshape the environments where they live, with cities being among the most profoundly transformed environments on Earth. New research now shows that these urban environments are altering the way life evolves.
Specialized coating allows for a slow release to the plants’ roots
Arsenic is a major drinking water contaminant, often linked to the bedrock where wells are drilled in the Northeastern part of the United States. However, new research suggests that pesticides used 100 years ago may also be to blame.
The African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) published a position paper in the journal Nature highlighting the goals, priorities, and roadmap of the impressive Africa-led effort to sequence the genomes of plants, animals, fungi, and protists that are endemic to the continent of Africa.
Michigan State University’s Thomas D. Sharkey published new research describing what they call a pilot light for photosynthesis. By understanding how plants stay primed to produce sugars in varying degrees of sunlight, Spartans are working toward a future when growers can raise more efficient crops used as food and biofuel.
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Ordinary potted house plants can potentially make a significant contribution to reducing air pollution in homes and offices, according to new research led by the University of Birmingham and in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).
A research team at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) in Jena, Germany has developed a new method to produce complex natural products in amoebae.
A collaborative research project will build on previous research to explore how plants secrete RNA and how does it help protect plants from infections caused by fungi and bacteria.
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