Tree DNA has revealed how African rainforests responded to past climate change including ice ages, new research shows. The new study found clues to support this, by identifying genetic signs of points when two populations of the same species emerged from one ancestral population – probably caused by the forest fragmenting into separate sections.
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.
Researchers have been studying seed dispersal to understand how chemicals impact interactions between fruit and the animals that eat them.
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.
Plants adapt to their nutritional needs by modifying the permeability of their roots through the production or degradation of a cork-like layer called suberin. By studying the regulation of this protective layer in Arabidopsis thaliana, an international team, has discovered four molecular factors responsible for the genetic activation of suberin.
Chicory is a beautiful plant with blue flowers, but the interesting part is in the ground: the chicory taproots are a source of inulin, a natural sweetener that is used in bread and dairy products and as dietary fibre for healthy intestinal function. Researchers have now used a new breeding techniques to develop a chicory variety that no longer contains bitter compounds.
Recently, a group of scientists, successfully developed a new high-yielding transgenic desi chickpea variety. For that, they used the chickpea cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase gene expressed under the chickpea WRKY31 gene promoter.
