When emerging plant pathogens go undetected, they have the potential to negatively affect food industries, conservation efforts, and even human health. And, just like emerging human pathogens, such as the 2019 novel Coronavirus, emerging plant pathogens need to be diagnosed as soon as possible to prevent them from spreading
A plant disease spread by sap-sucking insects has been devastating olive and fruit orchards across southern Europe, but scientists are inching closer to halting its spread with the help of insect repelling clays, vegetative barriers and genetic analysis.
Potato virus Y is the most economically important and devastating aphid-transmitted virus, affecting both tuber yield and quality. The virus is also a major cause of seed potato degeneration, which leads to regular flushing out of seed potatoes after limited field production cycles. There is no remedy for this virus and once a plant becomes infected, it stays sick for life.
New publication details the first application of CRISPR-Cas12b in plants, providing gene editing, activation, and repression capabilities all in one system.⠀
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Proteins play a key role in controlling all aspects of life including plants. A team of scientists has now mapped around 18,000 of all the proteins found in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana
The findings, published in Nature Communications, could help to improve revegetation efforts in regions affected by bushfires.
During bushfires, organic compounds called karrikins, named after the Noongar word ‘karrik’, meaning smoke, are produced from burning plant material. Karrikins soak into the soil with the first rain after a fire and stimulate the germination of buried seeds.
The scientists from UWA’s School of Molecular Sciences and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology examined more than 400 species, and found that some appeared to have developed an enhanced sensitivity to karrikins.
Lead researcher Dr Mark Waters said it was known that plants use a special receptor called KARRIKIN INSENSITIVE 2 (KAI2) to detect karrikins. However, unlike most plants that carry only a single type of KAI2, some species had more receptors.
“We looked at plants we knew responded well to karrikins and found that one of these, an Australian weed commonly called wild turnip (Brassica tournefortii), had three KAI2 receptors,”
Dr Waters said.
“On closer examination we found that mutations in one of these three receptors were responsible for the improved karrikin sensing.”
Dr Waters said the scientists also found that by changing two amino acids in the KAI2 receptor of a plant they could turn it into a karrikin super-sensor.
“This is exciting because we have discovered a way in which KAI2 protein can evolve to change its sensitivity to karrikins,” he said. “It will be interesting to see if this discovery could be used in areas where revegetation efforts are needed.”
Of 400 plant species examined subsequently, the scientists found to their surprise that there were similar KAI2 mutations in nine species of flowering plants.
“One of these species is Hakea drupacea, an Australian native that has become an invasive weed in South Africa, and relies on fire to spread,” he said.
By understanding which native species are karrikin super-sensors the scientists hope their study can guide predictions of which plant species may germinate best when treated with karrikins and apply this knowledge to the revegetation of fire and mining-affected land.
Read the paper: Nature Communications
Article source: ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology
A team of researcher examined how 14 rice diverse varieties photosynthesize—the process by which all crops convert sunlight energy into sugars that ultimately become our food. Looking at a little-studied attribute of photosynthesis, they found small differences in photosynthetic efficiency under constant conditions, but a 117 percent difference in fluctuating light, suggesting a new trait for rice breeder selection.
Astronauts in space generally live on processed, pre-packaged space rations such as fruits, nuts, chocolate, shrimp cocktails, peanut butter, chicken, and beef to name a few. These have often been sterilized by heating, freeze drying, or irradiation to make them last and key a challenge for the US Space Agency NASA has been to figure out how to grow safe, fresh food onboard.
Tropical forest trees are the centerpiece of debates on conservation, climate change and carbon sequestration today. While their ecological importance has never been doubted, what has often been ignored is their ability to store cultural heritage. Using recent advances in scientific methods and a better understanding of the growth of these trees, researchers can now uncover, in detail, the growing conditions, including human management, that have occurred around these ancient giants over their centuries-long life span.
