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Plant Genomics and Plant Biotechnology

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Genomic features that make plants good candidates for domestication

2019-04-24

New research details how the process of domestication affected the genomes of corn and soybeans. The study looked at sections of crop genomes and compared them to the genomes of ancestor species.

New avenues for improving modern wheat Ancestry and genetics of bread wheat mapped in a global study

2019-05-08

Since the Agricultural Revolution about 12,000 years ago, humans have been selectively breeding plants with desirable traits such as high grain yield and disease resistance. Over time, Triticum aestivum, otherwise known as bread wheat, has emerged as one of the world's most important crops. Together with the growing human population and the changing climate, the demand for wheat with a higher yield and additional resilience is increasing.

Genomic warning flag just in time for beach season: Jellyfish toxins

2019-07-01

A new article might make you squirm if you plan to hit the beach. This article presents the draft genomes of three jellyfish species, which have a range of physical traits and level of toxicity. Jellyfish kill more people than sharks, stingrays, and sea snakes combined; thus, having sequences and their analyses available provides an essential resource for future investigation of toxin gene evolution and body shape differences.

Researchers can finally modify plant mitochondrial DNA

2019-07-08

Researchers have edited plant mitochondrial DNA for the first time, which could lead to a more secure food supply. Nuclear DNA was first edited in the early 1970s, chloroplast DNA was first edited in 1988, and animal mitochondrial DNA was edited in 2008. However, no tool previously successfully edited plant mitochondrial DNA. Researchers used their technique to create four new lines of rice and three new lines of rapeseed (canola).

Parasitic plants use stolen genes to make them better parasites

2019-07-22

Some parasitic plants steal genetic material from their host plants and use the stolen genes to more effectively siphon off the host's nutrients. A new study reveals that the parasitic plant dodder has stolen a large amount of genetic material from its hosts, including over 100 functional genes, through a process called horizontal gene transfer.

Puzzling shapes: Unlocking the mysteries of plant cell morphology

2019-08-08

The discovery of the mechanics and molecular mechanism that dictate cell shape formation in plants by researchers offers new clues about the fundamental processes governing tissue formation in multicellular organisms.

Plant protection: Researchers develop new modular vaccination kit

2019-08-21

Simple, fast and flexible: it could become significantly easier to vaccinate plants against viruses in future. Scientists have developed a new method for this purpose. It enables the rapid identification and production of precisely tailored substances that combat different pathogens.

Global warming may diminish plant genetic variety in Central Europe

2019-08-29

Only a few individuals of a plant species may be prepared for increasing droughts.

Key enzyme found in plants could guide development of medicines and other products

2019-09-06

Researchers studying how plants evolved the abilities to make natural chemicals, which they use to adapt to stress, have uncovered how an enzyme called chalcone isomerase evolved to enable plants to make products vital to their own survival. The researchers' hope is that this knowledge will inform the manufacture of products that are beneficial to humans, including medications and improved crops.

How a protein connecting calcium and plant hormone regulates plant growth

2019-09-26

A new study finds that a unique mechanism involving calcium, the plant hormone auxin and a calcium-binding protein is responsible for regulating plant growth.

Cheap as chips: Identifying plant genes to ensure food security

2019-10-08

Scientists have developed a new approach enabling researchers to more efficiently identify the genes that control plant traits. This method will enable plant breeders and scientists to develop more affordable, desirable, and sustainable plant varieties. The application will be most valuable for the fruit, vegetable and grain crops that are critical for global food security and human nutrition.

Plants alert neighbors to threats using common 'language'

2019-10-03

New research shows that plants can communicate with each other when they come under attack from pests.

Cheap as chips: Identifying plant genes to ensure food security

2019-10-08

Scientists have developed a new approach enabling researchers to more efficiently identify the genes that control plant traits. This method will enable plant breeders and scientists to develop more affordable, desirable, and sustainable plant varieties. The application will be most valuable for the fruit, vegetable and grain crops that are critical for global food security and human nutrition.

Protein that triggers plant defences to light stress identified

2019-10-15

A newly discovered protein turns on plants' cellular defence to excessive light and other stress factors caused by a changing climate, according to a new study.

Plant physiology will be major contributor to future river flooding

2019-10-21

Researchers describe the emerging role of ecophysiology in riparian flooding. As an adaptation to an overabundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, trees, plants and grasses constrict their stomatal pores to regulate the amount of the gas they consume, a mechanism that limits the release of water from leaves through evaporation. This saturates soils and causes more efficient run off and river flooding.

Bacterial arsenic efflux genes enabled plants to transport boron efficiently

2019-10-30

Stubby roots, brittle branches, poor fertility -- these are some of the symptoms which can occur in the case of boron deficiency in plants. Thanks to transport proteins called Nodulin26-like-intrinsic-proteins (NIPs), modern seed plants can efficiently take up and distribute this essential micronutrient. However, this ability was not always inherent to plants. Researchers have now uncovered that the enigmatic functional origin of NIPs lies within genetically encoded arsenic detoxification units of bacteria.

Helping hands from within: Live-in bacteria protect plants against infections

2019-11-01

Micro-organisms living inside plant roots team up to boost the plant's growth and tolerance to stress.

Pharmacy in the jungle study reveals indigenous people's choice of medicinal plants

2019-11-06

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.

Too much sugar doesn't put the brakes on turbocharged crops

2019-11-11

Plants make sugars to form leaves to grow and produce grains and fruits through the process of photosynthesis, but sugar accumulation can also slow down photosynthesis. Researching how sugars in plants control photosynthesis is therefore an important part of finding new ways of improving crop production. Recent research into highly productive turbocharged crops such as maize and sorghum, show the secret to their productivity could lie in their sugar-sensing responses which regulate photosynthesis inside their leaves.

How plants handle stress

2019-11-20

Plants get stressed too. Drought or too much salt disrupt their physiology. An international research team investigated how evolutionary changes in receptor proteins led to their ability to sense the hormone abscisic acid (ABA). This enabled them to develop mechanisms that aided their colonization of dry land and their response to stress.

Nearly 40% of plant species are very rare and are vulnerable to climate change

2019-11-27

Almost 40 percent of global flora is categorized as 'exceedingly rare,' and these species are most at risk of extinction by human development and as the climate continues to change, according to new research.

How do you cultivate a healthy plant microbiome?

2019-12-06

Crops today never see their parents' microbiome, so how do they develop a leaf microbial community that's healthy and resistant to invasion by pathogens? Biologists sequenced the microbiomes of tomatoes through four generations and saw three-quarters of the bacteria disappear, leaving a core community that proved resistant to random invaders. The findings show it's possible to cultivate a robust plant microbiome, and suggests that probiotic additions could survive on crops, providing lasting benefits.

New methods promise to speed up development of new plant varieties

2019-12-16

Researchers developed new methods that will make it significantly faster to produce gene-edited plants.

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