Feature Channels: Plants

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One soil scientist’s journey through a soil pit leaves mystery – for now

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In a new paper in Science Signaling, researchers at the University of Hyderabad in India and the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine show that a plant-based compound called halofuginone improves the immune response to a potential vaccine against dengue virus.

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Northern Michigan University students enrolled in the nation's first medicinal plant chemistry program have access to cutting-edge instrumentation used in and beyond the cannabis industry through NMU's partnership with Shimadzu. Representatives of both entities recently dedicated a new lab on campus.

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Two Rutgers professors have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this year, an honor awarded to AAAS members by their peers. They join 441 other AAAS members named new fellows because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. The fellows will be presented an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Feb. 15 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2020 AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

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Extreme drought’s impact on plants will become more dominant under future climate change, as noted in a paper out today in the journal Nature Climate Change. Analysis shows that not only will droughts become more frequent under future climates, but more of those events will be extreme, adding to the reduction of plant production essential to human and animal populations.

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The University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center is in the heart of the tropical and subtropical fruit and vegetable industries, and the ornamental plant industry. For 90 years it has served as an agricultural research unit of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). On December 4, an open house invites community and media to engage with the science.

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“Bioplastics—a better option for the environment?” is a compilation of information about bioplastics. These alternative plastics have become more popular, and as it turns out, they’re effectively still the same as petroleum-based plastic, according to Dr. McGuire’s document.

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Plants get stressed too. Environmental factors such as drought or a high concentration of salt in the soil disrupt their physiology.

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Diversifying crop production can make food supply more nutritious, reduce resource demand and greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance climate resilience without reducing calorie production or requiring more land.

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University of Adelaide wine researchers say their latest discovery may one day lead to winemakers being able to manipulate the acidity of wines without the costly addition of tartaric acid.

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A team of researchers at the University of Georgia has found a way to identify gene regulatory elements that could help produce “designer” plants and lead to improvements in food crops at a critical time. They published their findings in two separate papers in Nature Plants.

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You've probably seen a lichen, even if you didn't realize it. If you've ever meandered through the forest and wondered what the crusty stuff on trees or rocks was, they're lichens

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Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group of scientists from Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia.

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In this Q&A, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Dan Jacobson talks about his team’s work on a genomic selection algorithm, his vision for the future of environmental genomics, and the space where simulation meets AI.

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Scientists located in Fort Lauderdale and Gainesville at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are conducting research into specific diseases depleting tree canopies throughout the state. The Florida Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) has announced it is awarding grants in the amount of $320,000 to two scientists for their continued research designed to save the tree canopy.

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Eurofins BioDiagnostics joined the International Phytobiomes Alliance as a sponsoring partner, both organizations announced today

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Although nitrogen is essential for all living organisms -- it makes up 3% of the human body -- and comprises 78% of Earth's atmosphere, it's almost ironically difficult for plants and natural systems to access it.

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A study co-led by researchers at Indiana University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has pushed back the first-known physical evidence of insect flower pollination to 99 million years ago, during the mid-Cretaceous period.

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Mosquito nets designed to prevent malaria transmission are used for fishing which may devastate tropical coastal ecosystems

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The improved technique will help explore genetic diseases and benefit drug development. It could also lead to better, safer weed killers.

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KINGSTON, R.I. – November 6, 2019 – Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, selling for about $5,000 per pound at wholesale rates, and 90 percent of the global saffron harvest comes from Iran. But University of Rhode Island agriculture researchers have found that Ocean State farms have the potential to get a share of the market as demand for saffron in the United States grows.

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Plants can help spruce up a home or office space, but claims about their ability to improve the air quality are vastly overstated

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In one of the most diverse studies of the non-random medicinal plants selection by gender, age and exposure to outside influences from working with ecotourism projects, researchers worked with the Kichwa communities of Chichico Rumi and Kamak Maki in the Ecuadorian Amazon. They discovered a novel method to uncover the intracultural heterogeneity of traditional knowledge while testing the non-random selection of medicinal plants and exploring overuse and underuse of medicinal plant families in these communities.

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Scientists identify more efficient methods for evaluating heat tolerance

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Plant scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

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Consumers were more willing to buy unlabeled produce after being shown food tagged as “genetically modified” in a new Cornell University study that comes two months before a new federal law, requiring genetically modified organism disclosure labels on food products, goes into effect.

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Taking into account the target species, their interactions with existing species and the site’s environmental conditions may increase the success of restoration projects.

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For grape growers, accurately predicting each season’s yield is key to a successful harvest. Underpredict, and you won’t have enough labor on hand or you’ll run out of storage space; overpredict, and you could fall through on promises to your distributors.

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Peppers are popular. Consumers eat all kinds, including jalapenos, habaneros, chilis and more. But like all crops, peppers face diseases that threaten to reduce their production. So, a University of Florida scientist is leading a multi-state effort to lessen the risk of diseases eating away at pepper harvests. With new data, scientists plan to help farmers increase their pepper production.

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Fossil pollen can help reconstruct the past and predict the future

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Unchecked climate change could drive Britain's crop growing north and west, leaving the east and south east unable to support crop growing, new research suggests.

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An Iowa State University scientist is coordinating experiments across more than a dozen states to determine how the timing of cover crop termination affects the susceptibility of corn to disease. The experiments are part of a USDA-funded initiative that includes 100 scientists and 35 institutions to develop a suite of new tools to help farmers.

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Researchers will use a $2.25 federal grant to study how cells communicate within plants, and between plants and pathogens, to develop crops that are resilient to disease and other stresses. The work also could play a role in reengineering plants and microbes to improve biofuel production.

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Tricking fungi into thinking they're starving could be the key to slowing down our evolutionary arms race with fungal pathogens, as hungry fungi don't want to have sex.

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Cannabis flowers with the most mushroom-shaped hairs pack the biggest cannabinoid and fragrance punch, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.

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Two grants awarded to Boise State researchers to create, corral and control the elusive molecular exciton. The research team is pioneering the use of DNA as a programmable, self-assembling architecture to organize dye molecules for creating and controlling room temperature exciton quantum entanglement.

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The Eastern Broccoli Project began in 2010 with the goal of growing a $100 million broccoli industry in the Eastern U.S. in 10 years. Currently, the industry is valued at around $90 million and, with two remaining years of funding, Cornell University researchers say they are on schedule to meet their goal.

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Gene sequences for more than 1100 plant species have been released by an international consortium of nearly 200 plant scientists who were involved in a nine-year research project, One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative (1KP).

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International consortium of researchers generates gene sequences from more than 1100 plant species

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New DNA sequences will aid in the development of improved millet varieties

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Irvine, Calif., Oct. 21, 2019 – The next time a river overflows its banks, don’t just blame the rain clouds. Earth system scientists from the University of California, Irvine have identified another culprit: leafy plants. In a study published today in Nature Climate Change, the UCI researchers describe the emerging role of ecophysiology in riparian flooding.

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Like many farmers nationwide, citrus growers are looking for any edge in their fight against weeds, and they’d rather use fewer chemicals to control the plants, says a University of Florida scientist. That’s because chemicals can get into groundwater, surface water and plants themselves.

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New findings from University of Florida scientists could help tomato growers nationwide in their battle against a damaging disease.

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A group of 46 scientists from around the world, led by Joseph Veldman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, are urging caution regarding plans to address climate change through massive tree planting.

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Bourbon isn’t bourbon without the mighty white oak. Distillers have been aging bourbon in oak barrels as far back as the Roman Empire. Oak barrels give bourbon its unique caramel, vanilla, nutty and toasted flavors. Kentucky distillers rely especially on the white oak. But what if disease hits the species? How would industry professionals protect it? The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment is partnering with Maker’s Mark Distillery Inc. in Loretto, Kentucky, and Independent Stave Company to research the DNA of the white oak.

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