A new study has discovered the functions of hundreds of genes in algae, some of which are also present in plants. The achievement will help efforts to genetically engineer algae for biofuel production and develop strains of agricultural crops that can withstand climate change.
Modifying photosynthesis has increasingly been a research target to improve crop yields to feed a growing global population in the face of climate change and other environmental factors. In a recent study, a research team investigated the effects of increasing the amount of carbon dioxide channels in plant membranes, but could not detect any impact on photosynthesis in model tobacco plants.
In contrast to previous assumptions, the defense hormones salicylic acid and jasmonic acid do not always suppress each other in regulating plant chemical defenses against pests and pathogens. In trees, the interplay of both hormones can actually increase plant resistance. This is the conclusion researchers draw in a new study on poplars.
Researchers explore the functional significance of different types of two-pore channels in a liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha.
Not all lentils are created equal. Lentil genetics can affect both the quality and yield of lentil crops. Environmental factors – like rainfall and soil conditions – can also impact lentil crops. Even the same lentil variety can have vastly different yields and nutritional profiles when grown in different environments.
When faced with conditions that are too dry, salty, or cold, most plants try to conserve resources. They send out fewer leaves and roots and close up their pores to hold in water. If circumstances don’t improve, they eventually die. But some plants, known as extremophytes, have evolved to handle harsh environments.
Flowering time in chickpeas’ wild relatives is influenced by one to three major genes, according to new research.
Airborne pollen may induce annoying congestion for some, but a new paper shows that these grains may provide a new way of looking at the climate over 300 million years into the fossil record.
A new study describes a breakthrough in the quest to improve photosynthesis in certain crops, a step toward adapting plants to rapid climate changes and increasing yields to feed a projected 9 billion people by 2050.
For a tropical wildflower first described by scientists in 2000, the scientific name “extinctus” was a warning. The orange wildflower had been found 15 years earlier in an Ecuadorian forest that had since been largely destroyed; the scientists who named it suspected that by the time they named it, it was already extinct. But in a new paper researchers report the first confirmed sightings of Gasteranthus extinctus in 40 years.
