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Research Finds Key Advances Towards Reducing the Cost of Plant Improvement

By | News, Plant Science

valuable trait. Some major examples of crops with these so-called “transgenes” include disease-resistant cotton and beta-carotene-enhanced golden rice. However, when foreign DNA is introduced into a host organism, a natural defensive response in plants is to repress or silence the expression of the unfamiliar genetic material. This “silencing,” a process known to involve DNA methylation, is a multimillion-dollar problem in the global agricultural improvement industry.

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Studying plant’s protective hair reveals metabolic innovation

By | News, Plant Science

Plants are master chemists, producing a dazzling array of molecules that are valuable to humans, including vitamins, pharmaceuticals and flavorings. The largest and most diverse group of molecules are known as specialized metabolites. Some metabolites attract beneficial insects and others repel or kill herbivore insects that feed on plants or pathogenic microbes. Some of these metabolites are poised for action at the surface of the plant, being made in trichomes, which are small hairs on stems, leaves and flowers. Unfortunately, these natural defenses are often missing from crop plants, having been lost during domestication or advanced breeding.

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Comparing photosynthetic differences between wild and domesticated rice

By | Agriculture, News, Plant Science

Millions of people in Asia are dependent on rice as a food source. Believed to have been domesticated as early as 6000 BCE, rice is an important source of calories globally. In a new study, researchers compared domesticated rice to its wild counterparts to understand the differences in their photosynthetic capabilities. The results can help improve future rice productivity.

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Quillwort genome highlights divergences in aquatic CAM photosynthesis

By | News, Plant Science

The humble quillworts are an ancient group of about 250 small, aquatic plants that have largely been ignored by modern botanists. A group of researchers have sequenced the first quillwort genome and uncovered some secrets of the plant’s unique method of photosynthesis — secrets that could eventually lead to the engineering of crops with more efficient use of water and carbon dioxide.

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tomatoes

​A sequence change in a single protein allowed a tomato virus to become a global crop pandemic​​

By | Agriculture, Fruits and Vegetables, News, Plant Health

disease has emerged, threatening tomato production worldwide. This is caused by the Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), a member of a devastating group of plant viruses called tobamoviruses. ToBRFV overcomes all known tobamovirus resistance in tomato, including the one conferred by Tm-22, a resistance gene responsible for the stable resistance to these viruses for more than 60 years.

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How bread wheat got its gluten: Tracing the impact of a long-lost relative on modern bread wheat

By | Agriculture, KAUST, News, Plant Science

Genetic detective work has uncovered an obscure ancestor of modern bread wheat, in a finding similar to uncovering a famous long-lost relative through DNA analysis in humans. Researchers have sequenced the DNA from 242 unique accessions of Aegilops tauschii gathered over decades from across its native range – from Turkey to Central Asia.

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