When we think of plants, the phrase “stressed out” doesn’t typically come to mind. They are, after all, exempt from paying bills and tackling existential questions. However, environmental changes—both living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic)—generate significant stressors for plants. New methods to improve plant tolerance and immunity amid climate change are therefore critical.
How do plants regulate their sugar metabolism? The protein SPL7 regulates nutrient uptake from the soil, as known before. Now it emerges that this protein also plays a role in a completely different context.
A team of scientists developed a theory that thylakoids, membrane networks key to plant photosynthesis, also function as a defense mechanism to harsh growing conditions, which could aid the development of hardier plants.
In a new study researchers took a deeper look into how plants control the growth of the important cells that allow them to convert sunlight into chemical energy.
Scientists have discovered a novel biochemical mechanism explaining how immune proteins defend plants against invading microorganisms.
Warm temperatures strongly enhance the regeneration of thale cress shoots, plant scientists have found. They have also uncovered the molecular mechanism behind this effect, which will help optimize the regeneration of plant cuttings for both plant-science research and horticulture.
What will happen to the world’s forests in a warming world? Will increased atmospheric carbon dioxide help trees grow? Or will extremes in temperature and precipitation hold growth back? That all depends on whether tree growth is more limited by the amount of photosynthesis or by the environmental conditions that affect tree cell growth—a fundamental question in tree biology, and one for which the answer wasn’t well understood, until now.
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.
Researchers explore the functional significance of different types of two-pore channels in a liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha.
New research has discovered how natural responses to stress in plants modify the way DNA is wrapped up in the cell to help it withstand the adverse effects that climate change has on its growth.
