Mindzilla – Plant Sciences

Plant Sciences

Chemical Discovery Gets Reluctant Seeds to Sprout

September 23, 2021
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Riverside, CA — Seeds that would otherwise lie dormant will spring to life with the aid of a new chemical discovered by a UC Riverside-led team. Plants have the ability to perceive drought. When...

How We’re Taking the Latest Superfood Mainstream, with Science

September 22, 2021
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Joondalup, Australia — Lupins have long been touted as the next superfood, combatting heart disease, diabetes and obesity and new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has taken an important step...

‘Anti-Rust’ Coating for Plants Protects Against Disease with Cellulose Nanofiber

September 10, 2021
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Tsukuba, Japan — A water-absorbent coat to keep rust away? It may seem counterintuitive but when it comes to soybean plants and rust disease, researchers from Japan have discovered that applying a...

Scientists Identify How ‘Crop Killer’ Bacteria Infects Plants, Paving the Way to Prevent Plant Disease

August 24, 2021
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Singapore — An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has identified, for the first time, a key mechanism by which a dangerous plant disease...

Chlorophyll Fluorescence, the Light from Photosynthesis, Illuminates Our View of Plant Function

August 24, 2021
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Helsinki, Finland — Chlorophyll, the green pigment found in plants and algae, emits faint red and far-red light when illuminated during photosynthesis. This so-called chlorophyll-a fluorescence conveys...

New Solvents to Break Down Plant Cellulose for Bioethanol

August 16, 2021
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Kanazawa, Japan — Scientists from the Institute of Science and Engineering at Kanazawa University have developed new solvent mixtures to break down the tough structure of plant cellulose for the production...

The Secret History of Corn is Revealed in Its Genome

August 6, 2021
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Cold Spring Harbor, NY — Humans adapt through language and culture, passing down knowledge from one generation to the next. Corn plants can’t talk, so they solve the problem of adaptability in a different...

Biofertiliser for Better Farms

August 3, 2021
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Adelaide, Australia — While agricultural production around the world struggles with declining soil health, Australian-led research is investigating production of a sustainable organic nitrogen fertiliser...

Making Progress in Developing Probiotic Beverages without Animal Protein

July 30, 2021
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Quebec, Canada — Most products enriched with probiotics and protein are made with dairy products. However, consumer demand for plant protein is growing. The nutritional value of these proteins must...

Common Floral Bacteria can Induce Pollen Germination

July 29, 2021
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Davis, CA — Certain species of floral bacteria can enhance pollen germination, according to a study published today from the University of California, Davis in the journal Current Biology.“This is...

DNA Duplication Linked to the Origin and Evolution of Pine Trees and Their Relatives

July 22, 2021
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Gainesville, FL — Plants are DNA hoarders. Adhering to the maxim of never throwing anything out that might be useful later, they often duplicate their entire genome and hang on to the added genetic...

Genome Studies: More is Not Always Better

July 16, 2021
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Würzburg, Germany — What the fruit fly is to zoologists, the thale cress is to botanists. The widespread herb with the botanical name Arabidopsis thaliana serves them as a model organism from which...

Getting to the Bottom of All Life: Visualizing a Protein Key to Enabling

July 14, 2021
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Okayama, Japan — “All living beings, including us, depend on photosynthesis,” says Prof. Wataru Sakamoto of the Institute of Plant Science and Resources at Okayama University, Japan, as...

Where Does the Shape of the Romanesco Cauliflower Come from?

July 12, 2021
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Paris, France — The mystery of the formation of one of the most peculiar plant forms – the Romanesco cauliflower – has been solved by a team of scientists from the CNRS1 and Inria in an...

Acid Sensor Discovered in Plants

July 7, 2021
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Würzburg, Germany — Climate change is causing increased flooding and prolonged waterlogging in northern Europe, but also in many other parts of the world. This can damage meadow grasses, field crops...

Belowground Microbial Solutions to Aboveground Plant Problems

July 6, 2021
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Cologne, Germany — Land plants – plants that live primarily in terrestrial habitats and form vegetation on earth – are anchored to the ground through their roots, and their performance...

Unlocking the Power of Microbiome

July 5, 2021
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Zürich, Switzerland — Hundreds of different bacterial species live in and on leaves and roots of plants. A research team led by Julia Vorholt from the Institute of Microbiology at ETH Zurich, together...

How Plants Quickly Adapt to Shifting Environmental Conditions

July 2, 2021
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La Jolla, CA — Scientists–and gardeners–have long known that plants grow taller and flower sooner when they are shaded by close-growing neighbours. Now, for the first time, researchers...

New Study Sheds Light on Evolution of Photosynthesis

June 30, 2021
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New Brunswick, NJ — A Rutgers-led study sheds new light on the evolution of photosynthesis in plants and algae, which could help to improve crop production. The paper appears in the journal New...

Researchers Find Health Benefits of Connecticut-Grown Sugar Kelp

June 28, 2021
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Storrs, CT — When most Americans think of seaweed, they probably conjure images of a slimy plant they encounter at the beach. But seaweed can be a nutritious food too. A pair of UConn researchers recently...

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