Category

Plant Science

Resurrecting billon-year-old enzymes reveals how photosynthesis adapted to the rise of oxygen

By | News, Plant Science

The central biocatalyst in photosynthesis, Rubisco, is the most abundant enzyme on earth. By reconstructing billion-year-old enzymes, a team of Max Planck Researchers has deciphered one of the key adaptations of early photosynthesis. Their results not only provide insights into the evolution of modern photosynthesis but also offer new impulses for improving it.

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Genetic engineering of chickpea to understand the mystery behind biochemical regulation in flower and seed coat colour of desi and kabuli genotypes

By | Agriculture, Blog, ECRi, Plant Science, Post

Flower and seed coat colour are important agronomic traits in chickpea that influence consumer preference. Based on their cultivation globally, this legume crop is categorized as “desi” or “kabuli”. Seeds of desi-type chickpeas are generally dark brown and angular with a rough seed coat, while the kabuli type produces light-brown coloured and rounded seeds with smooth seed coats. Recently, a group of scientists in India successfully developed a new genetically engineered selection marker-free stable chickpea line.

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Watching Plants Switch on Genes

By | News, Plant Science

Biologists often use green fluorescent protein (GFP) to see what happens inside cells. GFP, which scientists first isolated in jellyfish, is a protein that changes light from one color into another. Attaching it to other proteins allows researchers to find out if cells produce those proteins and where within cells to find them. This in turn shows how cells deliver and use genes.

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jimaro morales / Pixabay

Extreme Salt Stress Triggers Leaf Movement

By | News, Plant Science

Plant leaves can cope with much higher salt concentrations than roots. The underlying mechanism may help to develop more salt-tolerant crops. When there is a lack of water, heat or intensive irrigation, the level of common salt (sodium chloride) in the soil increases. However, most crops are sensitive to salt. They react to the increasing soil salinity by greatly reducing their growth. This leads to a reduction in the harvest.

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Documenting and making available the world’s crop diversity

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

Genebanks play an important role in the long-term conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Out of 1,800 genebank collections worldwide, more than 600 are in Europe. This vast array of crop diversity can be exploited to make our crops more nutritious, productive and resilient to pests, diseases and environmental changes, only if we have information about it.

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