A multidisciplinary, international team, has uncovered a new biochemical mechanism fundamental to plant life. Their research details the discovery of the enzymatic reaction involving carbohydrates present in plant cell walls, which are essential for their structure.
A new collaborative study describes a promising strategy to improve the nutritional benefits of crops. The work proposes the controlled transformation of chloroplasts (organelles that conduct the photosynthesis in leaves) into chromoplasts (organelles specialized in producing and storing large amounts of carotenoids). Free of substances harmful to the environment, this technology has been patented and opens new perspectives for the nutritional improvement (biofortification) of crops and for the sustainable production of carotenoids of interest to the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries.
Researchers use a new method of in vivo biosensor technology. Almost all life on Earth, in particular our food and our health, depend on metabolism in plants. In order to understand how these metabolic processes function, researchers are studying key mechanisms in the regulation of energy metabolism.
Bacterial road map offers new targets for Huanglongbing disease treatments. Scientists are closer to gaining the upper hand on a disease that has wiped out citrus orchards across the globe. New models of the bacterium linked to the disease reveal control methods that were previously unavailable.
Without sustained investment in plant science, the necessary research to generate innovative discoveries that solve these urgent problems is at risk. Recently, PSRN released its Plant Science Decadal Vision 2020-2030: Reimagining the Potential of Plants for a Healthy and Sustainable Future, a report that outlines bold, innovative solutions to guide investments and research in plant science over the next 10 years.
Asterids comprise around 100,000 flowering plants, from heather to tomatoes. Up to now, their family relationships had not yet been fully clarified. A new study by the has now somewhat closed this knowledge gap. It is the world’s most detailed phylogenetic analysis ever conducted for asterids.
About 4,000-5,000 parasitic plant species exist. Among these, dodders (Cuscuta, Convolvulaceae) are distributed worldwide. Compared with normal autotrophic plants, they have a unique morphology – they are rootless and leafless and carry out no or very little photosynthesis.
Miniscule plants growing on desert soils can help drylands retain water and reduce erosion, researchers have found. A global meta-analysis led by UNSW scientists shows tiny organisms that cover desert soils—so-called biocrusts—are critically important for supporting the world’s shrinking water supplies.
The oldest trees on Earth have stood for nearly five millennia, and researchers have long wondered to what extent these ancient organisms undergo senescence, physically deteriorating as they age. In a Forum recently published plant biologist argues that although signs of senescence in long-lived trees may be almost imperceptible to people, this does not mean that they’re immortal.
On the surface, the humble melon may just look like a tasty treat to most. But researchers have found that this fruit has hidden depths: retrotransposons (sometimes called “jumping sequences”) may change how genes are expressed.
