Feature Channels: Plants

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Released: 9-Aug-2023 12:25 PM EDT
Astonishing complexity of bacterial circadian clocks
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Munich)

An international team led by LMU chronobiologists analyses circadian rhythms in microorganisms – and observes mechanisms that are reminiscent of clocks in more complex organisms.

Newswise: Chulalongkorn’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Presents Plant-Based Biopharmaceutical Research to Combat Cancer Cells in Lab Animals
Released: 8-Aug-2023 8:55 AM EDT
Chulalongkorn’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Presents Plant-Based Biopharmaceutical Research to Combat Cancer Cells in Lab Animals
Chulalongkorn University

For the first time in Thailand, lecturers at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences have successfully developed antibody from tobacco plants with inhibitory effects on the growth of cancer cells in laboratory animals. This signals hope for access to effective cancer medication and treatment at a lower cost.

   
Released: 4-Aug-2023 3:10 PM EDT
A new, long-term study finds nitrogen fixation hotspots in Atlantic seaweed
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined nitrogen fixation among diazotrophs—microorganisms that can convert nitrogen into usable form for other plants and animals—living among sargassum.

Newswise: A path to defeating crop-killing gray mold without toxic chemicals
Released: 3-Aug-2023 5:05 PM EDT
A path to defeating crop-killing gray mold without toxic chemicals
University of California, Riverside

It’s a mold that causes billions in crop losses every year, infecting berries, tomatoes and most other fruits and vegetables. Now, researchers have found a way to defeat the mold without showering toxic chemicals on the crops.

Newswise: On-off switch for enzymes
Released: 3-Aug-2023 4:05 PM EDT
On-off switch for enzymes
Graz University of Technology

Light affects living organisms in many different ways: for example, plants orient their growth direction towards the sun, while circadian rhythms in humans are controlled by daylight.

Released: 3-Aug-2023 4:05 PM EDT
New-generation geostationary satellite reveals widespread midday depression in dryland photosynthesis during 2020 western US heatwave
Seoul National University

The western U.S., particularly the Southwest, has experienced a notable increase in record-breaking high temperatures over recent decades, with recurring drought and heatwaves.

Newswise: Taking a swing at protecting turfgrass
Released: 3-Aug-2023 12:00 PM EDT
Taking a swing at protecting turfgrass
University of Delaware

A team of researchers found that UD1022, a University of Delaware-patented beneficial bacteria, could be effective against fungal pathogens that affect turfgrass ( such as creeping bent grass) found on golf courses and other professionally managed fields.

Newswise: Amazon dark earth boosts tree growth as much as sixfold
Released: 1-Aug-2023 3:10 PM EDT
Amazon dark earth boosts tree growth as much as sixfold
Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

A type of soil called terra preta da Amazônia, or Amazon dark earth (ADE), promotes faster growth of trees and enhances their development in qualitative terms, according to an article published in the journal Frontiers in Soil Science.

Newswise: The very hungry Caterpillar: 60 Million-year-old Feeding Traces. Sharing of food plants as a driving force for insect diversity
Released: 1-Aug-2023 2:00 PM EDT
The very hungry Caterpillar: 60 Million-year-old Feeding Traces. Sharing of food plants as a driving force for insect diversity
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

Researchers from the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt and the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center Frankfurt have uncovered the factors that determine the enormous diversity of herbivorous insects.

Released: 1-Aug-2023 9:30 AM EDT
UMN commercializes new variety of fast-growing tree
University of Minnesota

On the market for fast landscaping and more; research is underway for pollution clean-up, carbon capture, biomass feedstock crop.

Released: 31-Jul-2023 3:30 PM EDT
Plans to plant billions of trees threatened by massive undersupply of seedlings
University of Vermont

The REPLANT Act provides money for the US Forest Service to plant more than a billion trees in the next nine years. The World Economic Forum aims to help plant a trillion trees around the world by 2030.

Newswise: Novel technology may lead to improved citrus varieties
Released: 27-Jul-2023 11:50 AM EDT
Novel technology may lead to improved citrus varieties
Texas A&M AgriLife

Developing disease-resistant, high-quality improved crop varieties to benefit agricultural producers and consumers may seem like a “hairy” task, but Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists may have gotten to the root of the issue.

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This news release is embargoed until 26-Jul-2023 2:00 PM EDT Released to reporters: 24-Jul-2023 2:05 PM EDT

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Newswise: Climate change threatens 771 endangered plant and lichen species
24-Jul-2023 9:35 AM EDT
Climate change threatens 771 endangered plant and lichen species
PLOS

All plants and lichens listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act are sensitive to climate change but there are few plans in place to address this threat directly, according to a new study.

Newswise: Earlier and earlier high-Arctic spring replaced by “extreme year-to-year variation”
Released: 26-Jul-2023 1:05 PM EDT
Earlier and earlier high-Arctic spring replaced by “extreme year-to-year variation”
Cell Press

About 15 years ago, researchers reported that the timing of spring in high-Arctic Greenland had advanced at some of the fastest rates of change ever seen anywhere in the world.

Newswise: Soil microbes help plants cope with drought, but not how scientists thought
Released: 25-Jul-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Soil microbes help plants cope with drought, but not how scientists thought
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

In a multi-generation experiment, researchers from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) found microbes helped plants cope with drought, but not in response to plants’ cries for help. Instead, the environment itself selected for drought-tolerant microbes. And while those hardy microbes were doing their thing, they just happened to make plants more drought-tolerant, too.

Newswise: Towards artificial photosynthesis with engineering of protein crystals in bacteria
Released: 25-Jul-2023 1:05 PM EDT
Towards artificial photosynthesis with engineering of protein crystals in bacteria
Tokyo Institute of Technology

In-cell engineering can be a powerful tool for synthesizing functional protein crystals with promising catalytic properties.

Newswise: Taming Undomesticated Bacteria with a High-Efficiency Genome Engineering Tool
Released: 24-Jul-2023 2:05 PM EDT
Taming Undomesticated Bacteria with a High-Efficiency Genome Engineering Tool
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Genetic engineers use synthetic biology to provide novel functions in microbes by introducing new genes. A new method called Serine recombinase-Assisted Genome Engineering (SAGE) borrows components from bacterial viruses to aid the stable insertion of genes into bacterial chromosomes. This new tool has the potential to work well in many species of bacteria, including newly discovered bacteria that must grow outside controlled laboratory conditions. These features will help accelerate synthetic biology research for bioenergy.

Newswise: Miocene period fossil forest of Wataria found in Japan
Released: 21-Jul-2023 8:40 AM EDT
Miocene period fossil forest of Wataria found in Japan
Hokkaido University

An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene epoch.

Newswise: A reason to celebrate Christmas in July: Research shows real Christmas trees boost mental health
Released: 20-Jul-2023 2:00 PM EDT
A reason to celebrate Christmas in July: Research shows real Christmas trees boost mental health
West Virginia University

While the smell of fresh pine or the softness of fir branches can ease holiday woes, West Virginia University researchers have discovered that even the act of shopping for real Christmas trees offers consumers mental health benefits they don’t get on a hunt for artificial ones.

   
Newswise: Can we predict if a plant species will become exotic?
Released: 20-Jul-2023 1:15 PM EDT
Can we predict if a plant species will become exotic?
Pensoft Publishers

Plant species become exotic after being accidentally or deliberately transported by humans to a new region outside their native range, where they establish self-perpetuating populations that quickly reproduce and spread.

Released: 20-Jul-2023 1:00 PM EDT
Desert microbes turn on drought tolerance when needed
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)

Priming crop plants with a microbe sourced from the roots of desert plants could be a powerful tool to boost crop plant's resilience to drought.

Released: 20-Jul-2023 10:30 AM EDT
Gene variation makes apple trees ‘weep,’ improving orchards
Cornell University

Plant geneticists have identified a mutation in a gene that causes the “weeping” architecture – branches growing downwards – in apple trees, a finding that could improve orchard fruit production.

Newswise: Scientists unravel evolutionary history of the Arctic flora
Released: 18-Jul-2023 6:20 PM EDT
Scientists unravel evolutionary history of the Arctic flora
Chinese Academy of Sciences

A team led by Prof. WANG Wei from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has unraveled the evolutionary history of the Arctic flora. The study was published in Nature Communications.

Newswise: Study highlights urgent need to protect world’s forests from non-native pests in the face of climate change
Released: 18-Jul-2023 5:00 PM EDT
Study highlights urgent need to protect world’s forests from non-native pests in the face of climate change
Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI)

CABI joined an international team of researchers from 57 institutions around the world to share its expertise in a ground-breaking study which highlights the urgent need to protect the world’s forests from non-native pests amid climate change.

Released: 18-Jul-2023 12:05 PM EDT
Japanese beetles could spread throughout Washington state in 20 years
Washington State University

Without intervention, the colorful but devastating Japanese beetle could make its way across the evergreen state within two decades, according to a study of their potential dispersion.

Newswise: Empower farmers to save native ecosystems in agricultural landscapes
Released: 18-Jul-2023 8:10 AM EDT
Empower farmers to save native ecosystems in agricultural landscapes
University of South Australia

With less than 5% of native vegetation remaining on private properties and roadsides on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia, University of South Australia researchers are calling for dramatic changes to land management measures in order to retain native ecosystems and prevent further biodiversity loss.

Released: 14-Jul-2023 5:10 PM EDT
Multiple uses of tropical mosaic landscapes
University of Göttingen

Many landscapes in the tropics consist of a mosaic of different types of land use. How people make use of these different ecosystems, with their particular plant communities, was unclear until now. Researchers, many of them from Madagascar, have now investigated this in an interdisciplinary Malagasy research project at the University of Göttingen.

Released: 14-Jul-2023 5:00 PM EDT
Remote plant worlds
University of Göttingen

Oceanic islands provide useful models for ecology, biogeography and evolutionary research. Many ground-breaking findings – including Darwin's theory of evolution – have emerged from the study of species on islands and their interplay with their living and non-living environment. Now, an international research team led by the University of Göttingen has investigated the flora of the Canary Island of Tenerife. The results were surprising: the island's plant-life exhibits a remarkable diversity of forms.

Newswise: Why trees outcompete shrubs to shift upward?
Released: 14-Jul-2023 1:25 PM EDT
Why trees outcompete shrubs to shift upward?
Science China Press

Climatic warming is altering the structure and function of alpine ecosystems, including shifts of vegetation boundaries. The upward shift of alpine treelines, the uppermost limit of tree growth forming the boundary between montane forest and alpine communities, is strongly modulated by shrub-tree interactions. But little is known on the responses of such coexisting life forms to a warmer climate.

Released: 14-Jul-2023 11:45 AM EDT
FSU Research: Colonization influences worldwide distribution of plant specimens
Florida State University

A study led by a Florida State University researcher that was published in Nature Human Behavior shows how colonization has contributed to the distribution of plants specimens stored in herbaria collections around the world. Plant diversity in nature is generally highest in tropical regions around the equator, with decreasing diversity closer to the poles.

Newswise: New toxin facilitates disease infection and spread in wheat
Released: 13-Jul-2023 4:25 PM EDT
New toxin facilitates disease infection and spread in wheat
American Phytopathological Society (APS)

Although wheat was among the first domesticated food crops, it remains a global dietary staple several millennia later.

Newswise: Discovery of New Gene Unveils Sex Determination in Green Algae
Released: 12-Jul-2023 2:55 PM EDT
Discovery of New Gene Unveils Sex Determination in Green Algae
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

An international team of researchers led by Dr. James Umen at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has made a groundbreaking discovery in the world of developmental biology. In their latest study on volvocine green algae, the scientists identified a new gene, named VSR1, that plays a vital role in the activation of genes specific to the development of female and male reproductive cells.

Newswise: Sex lives of orchids reads like science fiction
Released: 12-Jul-2023 2:25 PM EDT
Sex lives of orchids reads like science fiction
La Trobe University

Recent research, published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, used the database to reveal that orchids show remarkable diversity of highly specialised pollination strategies that differ across global regions.

Newswise: Roots are capable of measuring heat on their own, new study shows
Released: 10-Jul-2023 3:20 PM EDT
Roots are capable of measuring heat on their own, new study shows
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

Plant roots have their own thermometer to measure the temperature of the soil around them and they adjust their growth accordingly.

Newswise: Biotechnology offers holistic approach to restoration of at-risk forest tree species
Released: 7-Jul-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Biotechnology offers holistic approach to restoration of at-risk forest tree species
Purdue University

Many at-risk forest tree species will probably need biotechnology along with traditional tree-breeding approaches to survive, according to insights published in the July issue of the journal New Forests.

Newswise: New Insight into How Plant Cells Divide
6-Jul-2023 1:00 PM EDT
New Insight into How Plant Cells Divide
University of California San Diego

Plant and animal stem cells both rely on the cytoskeleton to divide properly, but a new study finds that they use them in opposite ways—while animal cells pull on the cytoskeleton, plant cells push it away. Harnessing that action could help scientists engineer more resilient plants.

Newswise: Genetic changes have decreased maize’s tolerance to severe heat stress and increased resilience to moderate heat stress
29-Jun-2023 1:15 PM EDT
Genetic changes have decreased maize’s tolerance to severe heat stress and increased resilience to moderate heat stress
PLOS

The ability of crops to withstand heat is critical to our food system’s resilience to climate change.

Released: 5-Jul-2023 2:25 PM EDT
In search of the ‘holy grail’ of tomatoes
Texas A&M AgriLife

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded a new Texas A&M AgriLife Research project expected to bring researchers even closer to developing the “holy grail” of tomatoes.

Released: 5-Jul-2023 2:05 PM EDT
Developing biobased cropping systems with both water, carbon resiliency
Texas A&M AgriLife

With a push to the future for farmers to grow renewable energy plants, limited water is a challenge. A Texas A&M AgriLife-led team is addressing that issue by evaluating biobased feedstock cropping systems with both water and carbon resiliency.

Newswise: Planting Seeds: FSU Researchers Dig Into How Chemical Gardens Grow
30-Jun-2023 4:05 PM EDT
Planting Seeds: FSU Researchers Dig Into How Chemical Gardens Grow
Florida State University

Until now, researchers have been unable to model how deceptively simple tubular structures —called chemical gardens — work and the patterns and rules that govern their formation.

Released: 29-Jun-2023 5:50 PM EDT
No more crying over rotting onions? Researchers gain insight into bacteria threatening Vidalia onion production
American Phytopathological Society (APS)

The Vidalia onion is a trademarked variety of sweet onion that can only be grown in several counties in Georgia by law.

Released: 28-Jun-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Zapping municipal waste helps recover valuable phosphorus fertilizer
Washington University in St. Louis

One of humankind’s most precious fertilizers is slipping away. Phosphorus, which today comes mostly from nonrenewable reserves of phosphate rock, typically winds up in municipal waste streams. In the best cases, wastewater treatment plants sequester about 90% of that phosphorus in “sludge” and decompose that sludge into something known as digestate.

Newswise: Plants Pollinated by Honey Bees Produce Lower-quality Offspring
23-Jun-2023 2:05 PM EDT
Plants Pollinated by Honey Bees Produce Lower-quality Offspring
University of California San Diego

In a first of its kind comparison, UC San Diego scientists have shown that pollination by honey bees, which are not native to the Americas, produces offspring of considerably inferior quality (lower fitness) than offspring resulting from native pollinators.

Newswise: NAU researchers awarded DoD grant to investigate invasive species impacting threatened, endangered plants  
Released: 27-Jun-2023 8:25 PM EDT
NAU researchers awarded DoD grant to investigate invasive species impacting threatened, endangered plants  
Northern Arizona University

The Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) has awarded Northern Arizona University a grant upwards of $1 million to support a five-year research project aimed at understanding the impact of invasive species on threatened and endangered (T&E) plants.

Newswise: Host Genetics Play a Significant Role in the Composition of Switchgrass Root Microbiomes
Released: 27-Jun-2023 4:05 PM EDT
Host Genetics Play a Significant Role in the Composition of Switchgrass Root Microbiomes
Department of Energy, Office of Science

A new study investigated the role of the genes in individual switchgrass plants in determining the composition of the bacterial communities associated with the plants’ roots.

Released: 26-Jun-2023 4:00 PM EDT
Headlines involving the fascinating (and perilous) world of oceanography and marine biology can be viewed on the Marine Science channel
Newswise

The recent tragic loss of the Titan submersible in the depths of the North Atlantic has brought the fascinating (and very dangerous) world of Oceanography and Marine Science to the forefront. Below are some recent stories that have been added to the Marine Science channel on Newswise, including expert commentary on the Titan submersible.

       
Newswise: A new ‘war of the roses’: Researchers integrate sensors, drones and machine learning to target thorny pest
Released: 26-Jun-2023 11:05 AM EDT
A new ‘war of the roses’: Researchers integrate sensors, drones and machine learning to target thorny pest
West Virginia University

Multiflora rose may sound like a bountiful variant of the classic flowering bush, but its unexpected white blooms and red berries conceal one of Mother Nature’s sinister surprises: The invasive shrub is a thorny foe that threatens native plants in more than 40 states, including West Virginia and neighboring Pennsylvania.

Newswise: RIPE researchers determine chloroplast size unlikely option for improving photosynthetic efficiency
Released: 26-Jun-2023 9:55 AM EDT
RIPE researchers determine chloroplast size unlikely option for improving photosynthetic efficiency
Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) Project

A group of RIPE researchers have found, for the first time, that chloroplast size manipulations are unlikely to be an option for increasing crop photosynthetic efficiency. Their work was recently published in New Phytologist.



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