Researchers recently announced that they have discovered the genetic linkages governing the formation of flowers. The revelation solves a long-standing mystery—how are there so many different types of flowers in the world?—and shines a bright light into a dark corner of evolution. The research also demonstrates the power of a technique called “forward genetics” in uncovering the mysteries of nature.
Researchers have unearthed the earliest definitive evidence of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in ancient Iraq, challenging our understanding of humanity’s earliest agricultural practices.
Most trees live in symbiosis with fungi. Researchers show just how important this partnership is for tree growth through the first-ever comprehensive data analysis compiled for European forests on a massive scale.
Enzymatic hydrolysis of planteose: α-Galactosidase is a promising molecular target for root parasitic weed control.
Researchers have discovered a gene that will make it possible to produce seeds from crops that are genetically identical to the mother plant and that do not need pollination.
Feeling the heat: Steroid hormones contribute to the heat stress resistance of plants. Plants, like other organisms, can be severely affected by heat stress. To increase their chances of survival, they activate the heat shock response, a molecular pathway also employed by human and animal cells for stress protection. Researchers have now discovered that plant steroid hormones can promote this response in plants.
The use of genetic information is now indispensable for modern plant breeding. Even though DNA sequencing has become much cheaper since the human genome was decoded for the very first time in 2003, collecting the full genetic information still accounts for a large part of the costs in animal and plant breeding. One trick to reduce these costs is to sequence only a very small and randomly selected part of the genome and to complete the remaining gaps using mathematical and statistical techniques.
Scientists have developed ways to decipher effects of the CO2 rise during the past 100 years on metabolic fluxes of the key plant species in peatlands, mosses.
Radiant and flavorful, lychees were so beloved that they were domesticated not just once in ancient times, but independently in two different regions of China, a study finds.
Scientists have found a novel way to combine two species of grass-like plant including banana, rice and wheat, using embryonic tissue from their seeds. The technique allows beneficial characteristics, such as disease resistance or stress tolerance, to be added to the plants.
