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.
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.
An international team of researchers has identified genes associated with plant survival in one of the harshest environments on Earth: the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Plants need sunlight to survive. Researchers have discovered that when plants are grown in the shade, they turn on hundreds of stress-related genes. The researchers found that a specific group of proteins called WRKYs are responsible for stunting root growth so the plant can focus on growing taller. They hope that their findings will help other researchers design plants that can still thrive without sunlight, which may help farmers grow more crops in denser fields.
A research team has observed that the role of plant tissue – the endosperm – is not only to feed the seed but is crucial for the development and protection of young plants.
To enable fast, efficient and cost effective bioengineering of plants, new tools and methods to deliver the genetic material into plant cells are increasingly being researched. Nanoparticles assisted delivery of biomolecules is one such under explored tool for their application in plant system.
What we cannot see is how plants sense force, at least not yet. But a discovery by plant biologists will help make it possible to study how mechanical forces, such as gravity, affect the way that plant cells form and grow. They have created the first artificial scaffolds that can support the growth of individual plants cells.
Fruits can be dichotomously classified as fleshy or dry. Although many factors have been proposed to explain the pattern that the fleshy-fruited species occur with deceasing latitude and altitude, the relative importance of these factors has not yet been resolved. Researchers have investigated in a recent study factors affecting fruit type (fleshy vs. dry): plant growth form, environmental constraints (summarized by climate region), and phylogenetic conservatism.
Researchers have used a handheld device that looks a little like a ray gun to record how plant leaves on different Alaskan mountains reflect light. And, it turns out, different populations of plants of the same species—for instance, plants living on neighboring mountaintops—reflect light differently, in ways that echo their genetic variation from each other.
A new study has sequenced the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana at a level of detail never previously achieved. Now, for the first time, this study reveals the secrets of the Arabidopsis centromeres, shedding light on their evolution and providing insights into a paradox that has mystified scientists for decades.
