Plants use photosynthesis to produce oxygen, nutrients and bioenergy. But this complex biochemical process is inefficient, with only a fraction of the sun’s energy actually being utilized in photosynthesis. Researchers want to change this in order to help increase the yield of cultivated crops. A research team has now discovered that the outer envelope membrane of chloroplasts could play a key role in this process.
CONSTANS (CO), a well-known member of the B-box family, is the major component of the photoperiodically regulated flowering and circadian pathways in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). A new study showed that CONSTANS protein negatively modulated salinity tolerance in Arabidopsis by physically associating with and antagonizing the ABSCISIC ACID-RESPONSIVE ELEMENT BINDING FACTOR (ABF) transcription factors under long-day conditions.
Researchers have shown a new way to boost plant nutrient uptake and growth. This could reduce the need for fertilisers, an input to agriculture which can be harmful for the environment.
Comparing with allopolyploid speciation, there are fewer cases of homoploid hybrid speciation. Although transient homoploid hybridization events have been detected in many plant genera, solid evidence from genomic data is scare.
A team of researchers has made significant strides in understanding how a tiny molecule, known as MicroRNA397, can play a crucial role in enhancing chickpea’s resilience against drought and dry root rot disease.
A group of researchers have found, for the first time, that chloroplast size manipulations are unlikely to be an option for increasing crop photosynthetic efficiency.
Scientists have discovered a new molecular signalling pathway, triggered when leaves are exposed to low humidity, that ensures plant roots keep growing towards water.
Most plants worldwide live in symbiosis with fungi. Often there is an exchange of nutrients from which both partners benefit. In numerous other cases, however, the plants feed unilaterally at the expense of the fungi. International research groups have presented a method that makes it possible for the first time to apply isotope analyses to all forms of symbiosis between plants and fungi without restrictions. In principle, it will be possible in the future to determine for each plant which and how many nutrients it obtains from fungal partners.
In a new study researchers have developed new approaches to compare and investigate the ability of plants in the genus Amorphophallus to produce their own heat, exploring the highly varied temperature patterns and their evolutionary significance.
Scientists have trained AI to unlock data from millions of plant specimens kept in herbaria around the world, to study and combat the impacts of climate change on flora.
