Feature Channels: Plants

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Including plants' acclimation to changes in temperature could significantly improve the accuracy of climate models, a Purdue University study shows.

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The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) in collaboration with IBERS, has sequenced and assembled the DNA of red clover to help breeders improve the beneficial traits of this important forage crop. The genome is published in Scientific Reports, a journal from the Nature publishing group.

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The sweet, juicy peaches we love today might have been a popular snack long before modern humans arrived on the scene. Scientists have found eight well-preserved fossilized peach endocarps, or pits, in southwest China dating back more than two and a half million years. Despite their age, the fossils appear nearly identical to modern peach pits.

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A long-term project aimed at improving photosynthesis in rice is entering its third stage, marking another step on the road to significantly increased crop yields that will help meet the food needs of billions of people across the developing world.

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Researchers with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have developed genetically modified citrus trees that show enhanced resistance to greening, and have the potential to resist canker and black spot, as well. However, the commercial availability of those trees is still several years away.

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Scientist led by Linköping University in Sweden have created cyborg roses with tiny electronic circuits threaded through their vascular systems.

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Research led by University of Sussex suggest plants trick bees into repeatedly visiting their flowers by producing the caffeine in its nectar. The scientists believe the bees are fooled into thinking the nectar contains more sugar than it actually does. This compound encourages the bee to return to the flowers that give them their fix rather than the ones that do not contain the compound.

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HHMI scientists have identified a set of proteins that plays a surprisingly broad role in guiding tissue formation in plant roots.

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Taking genetic engineering to the next level, Colorado State University researchers are creating modular, programmable genetic circuits that control specific plant functions.

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To uncover what plants honey bees rely on, researchers from The Ohio State University are using the latest DNA sequencing technology and a supercomputer. They spent months collecting pollen from beehives and have developed a multi-locus metabarcoding approach to identify which plants, and what proportions of each, are present in pollen samples.

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Analysis results in greater understanding of important biological traits related to crop drought tolerance

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NYU Abu Dhabi researchers have developed a map of genetic changes across the genome of date palms. They have also established genetic differences between Middle Eastern and North African date palms, an important discovery that sheds light on that long elusive question.

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Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are working to increase nutrient content in fruits and vegetables by using nanoparticles to boost the nutrient content and growth of tomato plants.

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"The fact that we found these two with little effort suggests there are a lot more new and undescribed fungal species that we walk over all the time."

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Sometimes, the way forward is to look back. This may be the case with soybeans, whose wild relatives have higher levels of beneficial fatty acids.

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Prof. Avihai Danon has discovered plants’ “off” switch for producing starch, 50 years after the “on” switch was found. Further, his team at the Weizmann Institute learned that the on and off switches are active at the same time, which is like driving while pressing both the gas and the brakes – but why?

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The iconic sugar maple, one of the most economically and ecologically important trees in the eastern United States and Canada, shows signs of being in a significant decline, according to research results published today (Oct. 21, 2015) in the open-access journal “Ecosphere.”

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A new study documents that trees play a minor role in offsetting carbon emissions in urban areas. Researchers examined carbon emissions and trees' carbon storage in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) and found hotspots where more trees could yield benefits. Findings published online in the journal PLOS One.

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The very act of tolerating some forms of soil pollution may give trees an advantage in the natural world, says University of Montreal plant biologists. Their findings were published this week in BMC Plant Biology.

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The genetic and developmental innovations plants used to make the leap to land have been enduring secrets of nature. Now, an international team of researchers reveals that the aquatic algae from which terrestrial plant life first arose were genetically pre-adapted to form the symbiotic relationships with microorganisms that most land plants need to acquire nutrients from the soil.

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Research conducted by UD alumna Karin Burghardt and Doug Tallamy, professor of entomology in the University’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, found that non-native plants are compounding the problem of declining species diversity by supporting fewer herbivores across landscapes.

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Researchers have discovered how a tiny viral protein enables the infection of a complex plant, and the finding could lead to understanding viral diseases in other plants, animals and humans, according to a team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research biochemists.

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This monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucaria) is one of the stranger trees growing in the Smithsonian’s Enid A. Haupt Garden in Washington, D.C. Its triangular leaves, which cover the entire tree, both branches and trunk, are thick, tough, and scale-like, with sharp edges and tips. Each leaf can last 10 to 15 years.

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A new spectroscopy method is bringing researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) closer to understanding – and artificially replicating – the solar water-splitting reaction at the heart of photosynthetic energy production.

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Associate Professor Edward L. Webb, from the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and NUS PhD graduate Dr Jacob Phelps, have uncovered a previously little recognised Southeast Asian wildlife trade – the illegal sale of wild-collected ornamental plants, especially orchids.

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Orchids, a fantastically complicated and diverse group of flowering plants, have long blended the exotic with the beautiful. Previously, botanists have proposed more than a half dozen explanations for this diversity. Now, research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published last week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, corroborates many of these explanations, but finds no evidence for other logical suggestions, such as that deceitful pollination.

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While this pathogen is not new to Florida, this is the first report of it infecting the wild date palm. The good news is that you can prevent the spread of F. oxysporum f. sp. canariensis most of the time by sterilizing pruning tools prior to pruning or by using a new pruning tool.

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The milkweed plants growing in 40 cube-shaped chambers on a hilltop at the University of Michigan Biological Station provide a glimpse into the future that allows researchers to ask a question: How will monarch butterflies fare?

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The Amorphophallus titanum (corpse flower) is getting ready to open and unleash its stinky odor at Binghamton University’s E.W. Heier Teaching Greenhouse for the third time in just five years. Watch a live stream of the corpse flower at http://bit.ly/1EQIFvF.

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Edward H. Egelman, PhD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has used the Titan Krios microscope to determine the structure of the bamboo mosaic virus, a flexible filamentous virus that has eluded researchers for decades.

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Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher and colleagues in Europe have identified a 125 million- to 130 million-year-old freshwater plant as one of earliest flowering plants on Earth.

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Native North Americans have long adorned themselves and their homes with fragrant sweetgrass (Hierochloe odorata), a native plant used in traditional medicine, to repel biting insects, and mosquitoes in particular. Now, researchers report that they have identified the compounds in sweetgrass that keep these bugs at bay. The team will describe their approach at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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Finding a technology to shift carbon dioxide (CO2), the most abundant anthropogenic greenhouse gas, from a climate change problem to a valuable commodity has long been a dream. Now, a team of chemists says they have developed a technology to economically convert atmospheric CO2 directly into highly valued carbon nanofibers for industrial and consumer products. They will present the research at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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Tomato lovers rejoice: Adding or rearranging a few simple steps in commercial processing could dramatically improve the flavor of this popular fruit sold in the grocery store, according to researchers. They will present their new work on the topic in Boston at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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Shade may limit the presence of invasive plants along streams and rivers, based on a study conducted using stream condition data collected by means of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP).

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A UF/IFAS plant pathologist calls the finding a "game-changer" for the ornamental plant. But now, growers know the disease is out there and can make necessary adjustments, using fungicides for disease management.

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The ground cover plant, Little Ruby alternanthera has been named the newest Texas Superstar plant.

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Researchers have discovered how parasitic plants evolved the ability to detect and attack their hosts. Their findings could lead to new techniques to control the thieving weeds.

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Healthy soils mean healthy food, protects human health

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University of Adelaide research has shown for the first time that, despite not having a nervous system, plants use signals normally associated with animals when they encounter stress.

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The French have spent centuries developing grapes with the unique flavor and character of Burgundy region wines. Cold-climate grape producers are counting on science to help shorten that process. Plant scientists Anne Fennell and Rhoda Burrows from South Dakota State University are part of the research team helping cold-climate grape growers carve a niche in the American wine industry through two U.S Department of Agriculture projects.

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JBEI, UC Davis and Berkeley Lab researchers have identified a bacterial signaling molecule that triggers an immunity response in rice plants, enabling the plants to resist a devastating blight disease.

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Are your plants dead or dying? New Mexico State University has an online Plant Diagnostic Clinic that might be able to help. Experts provide advice for homeowners, landscape professionals, nursery retailers and government agencies can find a photographs of plant problems to compare plant conditions.

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Land managers may use fungi to ensure health of planting and reforestation efforts.

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Basil can add a little zest to any meal. But downy mildew disease threatens the herb’s very existence. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers are trying to manage the disease with little to no spraying.

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A new variety of peanut, called OLé, has recently been released by a team of researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and their colleagues at Oklahoma State University. OLé peanuts have longer shelf lives and increased disease resistance compared to other peanut varieties, and pack high amounts of a heart-healthy fatty acid called oleic acid.

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Scientists attending a workshop at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory slipped the leash of scientific caution and tried to imagine what they would do if they could redesign plants at will. The ideas they dreamed up may make the difference between full bellies and empty ones in the near future when population may outrun the ability of traditional plant breeding to increase yields.

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Unless humans slow the destruction of Earth’s declining supply of plant life, civilization like it is now may become completely unsustainable, according to a paper published recently by University of Georgia researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Scientists discovered that coffee berry borers worldwide share 14 bacterial species in their digestive tracts that degrade and detoxify caffeine. They also found the most prevalent of these bacteria has a gene that helps break down caffeine. Their research sheds light on the ecology of the destructive bug and could lead to new ways to fight it.