Plant Sciences

A study published in Ecological Monographs shows that sugar maple microbiomes change from north to south along the transition from coniferous to deciduous forestCredit: Geneviève Lajoie. Forest leaves are teeming with…

Credit: USDA Forest Service In honor of World Soil Day on December 5, the Research and Development arm of the USDA Forest Service is announcing the release of a major new synthesis of research on soils. The open-access book, Forest and…

Credit: Ciro Cabal, Princeton University You might have observed plants competing for sunlight -- the way they stretch upwards and outwards to block each other's access to the sun's rays -- but out of sight, another type of…

Researchers look to animals to find clues in proteins involved in infectionCredit: Jaswinder Singh What makes the elderly and people with underlying conditions more vulnerable to COVID-19? According to a new study led by McGill…

Credit: Isamu Wakana A team of scientists from Hokkaido University has suggested that marimo maintain their characteristic spherical shape due to the rarity of the formation of reproductive cells. The marimo is the aggregative form…

Credit: Kansas State University MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- The National Science Foundation has awarded a $7.12 million grant renewal to Kansas State University's Konza Prairie Biological Station to support the next six years of long-term…

Plants get bacterial infections, just as humans do. When food crops and trees are infected, their yield and quality can suffer. Although some compounds have been developed to protect plants, few of them work on a wide variety of crops,…

This fundamental finding could help improve the nutritional value of plant seeds and even reduce allergenicity of legume seeds in the future.Credit: Antonets et al., PLOS Biology, 2020 Thanks to this work, as the journal Trends…

For the first time, researchers from SMART have engineered a living plant-based sensor for the detection of arsenic in the belowground environmentCredit: Dr. Tedrick Thomas Salim Lew New class of living plant-based sensor interfaces…

Two Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers, one a world-leading authority on microorganisms and their impact on soil and human health, and the other an expert on coastal ecosystem restoration, have been elected fellows of the…

Scientists are getting closer to figuring out how to synthesize a plant pigment that could have medicinal usesCredit: Kumi Yoshida Nagoya University scientists have furthered understanding of how plants make a common pigment that…

Credit: Sat Darshan Khalsa A favorite healthy snack, almonds are a staple on grocery store shelves worldwide. More than 80% of these almonds are grown in California. As permanent crops, almond trees have unique needs and…

Credit: Matthew Boucher Historically credited as being the first bacterium ever characterized as a plant pathogen, fire blight is a bacterial disease that leads to significant losses of pear and apple. The role of insects in the…

Humans turned a weedy plant with tiny fruit into the tomato that we know today. That wild ancestor could lead to tomatoes that taste better, are more nutritious and more resilient.Credit: Scott Peacock and the C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics…

Credit: Michael B. R. Smith and M. Scott Greenwood/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy Transportation - Taking to the skies If air taxis become a viable mode of transportation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have…

Credit: University of Warwick Plants have the unique capability to sense and adapt to changes in their environment This information is stored in the form of 'epigenetic memory' which can be passed on to the offspring, resulting…

Credit: Kristin Saltonstall Urban legends about the origins of canal grass in Panama abound, but the Smithsonian has new evidence that puts the question to rest. Canal grass is an invasive weed, native to Asia. Because its…

A research team led by the University of Tsukuba shows that modern gene editing techniques can help tomato breeders introduce diversity and improve the nutrition and environmental impact of tomato cropsCredit: University of Tsukuba …

An investigation of nine types of microalgae for use as an energy source in commercial biodiesel production based on laboratory-scale dataCredit: Lucas Martín WASHINGTON, December 1, 2020 -- Microalgae are a promising source of energy to…

Study implies that lack of metal nutrient in soil can determine which carbon is cycled When humans have low iron levels, they tend to feel weak, fatigued and dizzy. This fatigue prevents patients with iron-deficient anemia from exercising…