The cellular life inside a plant is as vibrant as the blossom. In each plant tissue—from root tip to leaf tip—there are hundreds of cell types that relay information about functional needs and environmental changes. Now, a new technology can capture this internal plant world at an unprecedented resolution, opening the door for understanding how plants respond to a changing climate and leading to more resilient crops.
In a discovery aimed at accelerating the development of process-advantaged crops for jet biofuels, scientists developed a capability to insert multiple genes into plants in a single step.
New knowledge of ancient grain may enable breeding for climate change adaptation. An international team of researchers has unlocked a large-scale genomic analysis of Setaria or foxtail millet, an important cereal crop. The study advances our understanding of the domestication and evolution of foxtail millet, as well as the genetic basis for important agricultural traits.
New esearch has found using environmental DNA (eDNA), in conjunction with conventional methods, to monitor how insects interact with flowers could potentially improve conservation rates.
For several years, ecological research has argued that climate often has no determining influence on the distribution of forests and savannas in tropical regions. However, an international research team has now succeeded in proving that it depends mostly on climatic factors whether regions in Africa are covered by forest or savanna. The study, confirms the dominant role of climate in the formation of global vegetation patterns.
Corn leaves on the lowest rung of a plant’s stem spend much of the day shrouded in shade. A gust of wind can crack the window to photosynthesis, and growth, for those leaves, but they typically can’t adjust in time to seize the moment. Research is identifying genes that could open the way to breeding plants better at capitalizing on yield-boosting sunlight.
Some southern beeches in the Andes have plumbed deeper for moisture as the surface has dried up. But doing so may deplete resources and undermine the trees’ future health.
Applying an advanced imaging technology to plant roots, researchers have developed a new understanding of essential root chemicals that are responsible for plant growth
New detailed genetic analysis clarifies the evolutionary relationships among orchids and reveals that the plant’s ability to grow on trees evolved independently in several lineages.
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.
