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plant science Archives - Page 84 of 96 - The Global Plant Council

Apr 09
0

Applying CRISPR beyond Arabidopsis thaliana

By | News, Plant Science

Few technologies have made as big a splash in recent years as CRISPR/Cas9, and rightfully so. CRISPR/Cas9, or clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and associated genes, is a bacterial gene editing toolbox that allows researchers to edit genomic sequences much more precisely and efficiently than previously possible, opening up doors to new ways of doing research. As with many new biotechnologies, the application of CRISPR in biology began with genetic model organisms such as Arabidopsis thaliana. In recent research authors review the prospects for expanding the use of CRISPR for research beyond genetic model plant species.

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Apr 06
3

How plants protect themselves from sun damage

By | News, Plant Science, Research

For plants, sunlight can be a double-edged sword. They need it to drive photosynthesis, the process that allows them to store solar energy as sugar molecules, but too much sun can dehydrate and damage their leaves. A primary strategy that plants use to protect themselves from this kind of photodamage is to dissipate the extra light as heat. However, there has been much debate over the past several decades over how plants actually achieve this.

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Apr 03
2

Unexpected discovery: Blue-green algae produce oil

By | Agriculture, News, Plant Science

Cyanobacteria – colloquially also called blue-green algae – can produce oil from water and carbon dioxide with the help of light. This is shown by a recent study. The result is unexpected: Until now, it was believed that this ability was reserved for plants. It is possible that blue-green algae will now also become interesting as suppliers of feed or fuel, especially since they do not require arable land.

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Apr 01
2

How three genes rule plant symbioses

By | Agriculture, News, Plant Science

For billions of years life on Earth was restricted to aquatic environments, the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes.

Then 450 million years ago the first plants colonised land, evolving in the process multiple types of beneficial relationships with microbes in the soil.

These relationships, known as symbioses, allow plants to access additional nutrients. The most intimate among them are intracellular symbioses that result in the accommodation of microbes inside plant cells. A study recently published describes the discovery of a common genetic basis for intracellular symbioses.

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Mar 31
1

Keeping life in balance: Sulfotransferase couples shade avoidance and defense responses in Arabidopsis

By | Blog, ECRi, Plant Health, Plant Science, Post

How do plants sense their environment? How do they cope with different challenges, like competition for resources or pest attacks? In a new study researchers explain the role of ST2a, a gene up-regulated by plant proximity cues, which participates in the inactivation of jasmonates –a group of regulators that orchestrate defense responses. This way they manage to demonstrate how competition signals promote plant growth at the expense of reduced defenses.

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Mar 09
1

Space lettuce – successful cultivation of a salad crop

By | News, Plant Science

Astronauts in space generally live on processed, pre-packaged space rations such as fruits, nuts, chocolate, shrimp cocktails, peanut butter, chicken, and beef to name a few. These have often been sterilized by heating, freeze drying, or irradiation to make them last and key a challenge for the US Space Agency NASA has been to figure out how to grow safe, fresh food onboard.

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