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 African butterfly lily (Wachendorfia paniculata) ensures this is remarkable similar to how sex in humans is decided.
Tag Archives: Engels
Fuelling 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, it is actually glucose that feeds the wound adjacent cells.
Buffering 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.
The 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.
Plant en Zo 