A wild inheritance
Most crops have lost the ability to cultivate their microbial helpers. Now a new study asked if for rice is possible to regain this ability from their wild relatives.
Keep readingFeeling the wound
Roots are just as likely to be damaged by hungry insects as the rest of the plant. But while lots is known about how plants respond to above ground damage, below ground this is still in the dark. A group of international researchers set out to find out more.
Keep readingNew clues on Norway spruce reproduction
Now Swedish researchers have found a way to gain insights in this tree transitioning from vegetative organ development towards cone development. Key to this was the development of a technique they called spatial transcriptomics.
Keep readingNegative regulation of a still to be discovered hormone
Up till now the majority of the studies focussed on the response to karrakin(-like) and how plants regulate this. But hormone response is often held in check by negative feedback loops. Now a new study by a group of international researchers focused on this negative feedback loop.
Keep readingPumping up cells
Plants lift up their leaves in crowded environments, so they can capture more light. While researchers know a lot of how plants do this, what causes cells to grow, which is needed for this response, is unclear. Now a group of international researchers show that the potassium channel AKT5 pumps in K+ ions into the…
Keep readingLinking defence responses
Upon wounding a Ca2+ signal travels from the wound through the plant. In each cell the signal passes through the defence response gets activated. Now a new study from German researchers shows that two plastid located ion channels form a missing link in how Ca2+ activates the biosynthesis of jasmonic acid, one of the plant…
Keep readingManipulating insects
Herbivory insects manage to influence the stomata opening of the plant they feed on. Most do this to keep the stomata closed so they minimise the release of volatile organic compounds. These scent molecules are after all responsible for attracting the enemies; predatory insects. But the tomato leafminer (Phthorimaea absoluta) does the opposite. It forces…
Keep readingPlants Talk—Just Not the Way You Think
Do plants really talk among themselves or is this all just chemistry with a bit of humanising sauce put in the mix.
Keep readingCalling sign
Orchids even before they germinate they are dependent on their symbiotic fungal partner. Their seeds lack the stored energy that seeds of other species have. Now Chinese researchers show that orchid seeds are not waiting for their fungus to arrive but actively entice them with signalling molecules doubling as carbon source.
Keep readingSubtle nudges
Most of us know penicillin as an antibiotic. It is made by the soil dwelling Penicillin rubens fungus. Now this fungus has many brothers and sisters, some of which like to nestle themselves between the cells of roots. For the plant this is positive as colonized plants grow more roots. Now a new study by…
Keep readingHandiness in flowers
Twist to the left, twist to the right. Mirror image flowers place their male and female organs on opposite side of the flower midline, preventing self-fertilization. But to ensure pollination, it helps if half of the flowers of a species are oriented the opposite way. Now a group of international researchers report that how South…
Keep readingFuelling the repair
When plants are wounded, they quickly set to heal themselves. These unplanned cell divisions and growth require extra fuel. How the plant makes sure this fuel reaches the wound site is not clear. Now a new paper from Israeli scientists shows that while this extra fuel reaches the wound site in the form of sucrose,…
Keep readingBuffering genetic variation
Most genetic differences within species do not result in a phenotype. Instead, their effects are buffered away. One of the ways plants and other organisms do this is by providing help with protein folding, preventing misfolding. Now a group of Chinese scientists have found a potentially second way plants do this, via their spliceosome.
Keep readingThe hidden layer of genetic flexibility
Plants have fascinating genomes, complex with many multiplicated genes. It is one of the reasons they can produce many complex compounds. So, when I heard that they have those so-called extracellular circular DNA I was hooked.
Keep readingPlant organ growth inside story
The view was that the shape of plant tissues, including those of grains and fruits, is controlled by the pressure that the outermost tissue layers give to the inner tissues. A kind of mechanical feedback. But now a new study shows that the inner tissues also have a say in this.
Keep readingSensing the point of no return
When is it time to die, that is the question that lays behind the latest study of a group of Swedish researchers. They found that sensing depleted levels of the amino acid arginine tell the cell to throw in the towel.
Keep readingStrengthening the walls
Plants, like all organisms don’t like an excess of salt. One of its ways to deal with salt stress is to strengthen their cell walls. FER, a receptor in the cell membrane is one of the key proteins in regulating this. Now a group of Chinese researchers show that key to this is the small…
Keep readingBending due to gravity
Place a plant on its side and its roots and shoots quickly grow down and up again. The plant sensed that the direction of gravity changed and adjusted its growth accordingly. But how plants regulate this temporary adjustment was not exactly known. Now a group of international researchers show that one part of the answer…
Keep readingTurning red
Plants are wonderful chemical factories. So when synthetic food dyes get banned it is only logical to look for plant produced alternatives, like betalain which is naturally produced by beetroots and their relatives. A new study by American researchers explores the possibility of getting other plant species to produce betalain.
Keep readingSwitching from 2D into 3D
Life as we know it happens in 3D. So, when a group of international researchers found a gene that appears to have a role in the transition from 2D into 3D development they where excited.
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