Category

Plant Science

Image: Two lateral root primordia develop from the main root of Arabidopsis thaliana. The images (with false colours) were taken with a confocal microscope. Credit: Michael Stitz, Heidelberg University

How plants use sugar to produce roots

By | News, Plant Science

Along with sugar reallocation, a basic molecular mechanism within plants controls the formation of new lateral roots. An international team of plant biologists has demonstrated that it is based on the activity of a certain factor, the target of rapamycin (TOR) protein. A better understanding of the processes that regulate root branching at the molecular level could contribute to improving plant growth and therefore crop yields.

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Automated counting and measuring method for efficient maize trichome identification

By | Agriculture, News, Plant Science

Plant trichomes are highly specialized structures that develop from the epidermal pavement cells of different plant tissues. They are known to defend plants from biotic and abiotic stresses such as water loss, insect-inflicted damage, pathogen attacks, deadly ultraviolet radiation, and leaf temperature reduction. A research team from China recently utilized computer vision, artificial intelligence, and deep learning techniques to develop an automatic algorithm to count and measure maize trichomes.

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