Sometimes the pathogens that infect plants also affect people—through our pocketbooks. Which is why plant pathologist spend a lot of time studying microbes that infect tomatoes, peppers and strawberries.
The genus Allium contains about 1,100 species worldwide, including many staple foods like onion, garlic, scallion, shallot and chives. Even though this group of vegetables has been making appearances at family dinners for centuries, it turns out that it is a long way from running out of surprises, as a group of researchers from India recently found out.
Research has found a twist in the way plants cannibalize their own cells to survive under stressIn response to drought, cold, lack of sunlight and other stress, cellular proteins interact in different ways to help a plant survive. A primary protective act is the destruction and recycling of some of the plant’s own cellular materials into what is needed for others.
Researchers have been studying seed dispersal to understand how chemicals impact interactions between fruit and the animals that eat them.
In plants, Sugar Transport Proteins (STPs) are key for uptake of glucose. Moreover, controlling sugar uptake through STPs is used by plants as a vital defense strategy against microbial infection, by using starvation and competition for sugar to restrict microbial growth.
Mature oak trees will increase their rate of photosynthesis by up to a third in response to the raised CO2 levels expected to be the world average by about 2050, new research shows.
Scientists have figured out how plants respond to light and can flip this genetic switch to encourage food growth. The discovery could help increase food supply for an expanding population with shrinking opportunities for farming.
Predicting the spread of nonnative plants that have the potential to become invasive may seem like an unachievable goal. Recent research shows important, predictive clues can be found in how we live and work.
Researchers are optimistic the value and versatility of one of the world’s top crops will be improved following the discovery of genes which could increase the grain size of sorghum.
Around the world, honeybees are dying in large numbers. This die-off is in part because of a deadly virus that can kill bees or impair their ability to return to the hives after foraging. But researchers now show that a cheap and naturally occurring chemical compound could prevent or reverse the effects of the virus in bees.
