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54 articles
Breathing air in and out is something that we, as humans, perform in every moment of our lives. Plants do likewise thanks to tiny mouths called stomata.
It’s spring and the smell of flowers spreads through the air. What we perceive as “smell” are chemical compounds also called “volatiles” which are...
How many times have you enjoyed sweet, healthy almonds and, suddenly, all this sweetness became erased by a taste of a single bitter one? Almond genome has...
Genetically modified organisms can be the natural result of environmental interactions between plants and their surroundings.
Until recently, scientists thought that the growth of plant cells is driven by pressure on their rigid cell walls. Using new nanoimaging technology we show...
Have you ever had an aquarium with plants and failed to make it flourish? In this recent study published in Science, we show that the mineral composition of...
We have genetically engineered tobacco plants capable of producing their own light, a phenomenon never described in any plants in nature. In addition to its...
Gene therapy is at the forefront of medical research, but...can it help us save a beloved fruit?
A recent molecular study of the sweet potato and its wild relatives, the most comprehensive study of this group of plants to date, provides important...
Plants are able to gather energy from the sun thanks to an evolutionary partnership between photosynthetic bacteria and early living organisms. It is commonly...
Compacted, hard soil is a major threat to modern farming as it blocks plant roots growth and restricts water and nutrient acquisition. Engineered crop roots...
Obtaining the right daily amount of fresh food is a challenge in many countries. This study improved the dietary value of tomato, by enhancing the content of a...
Due to their static nature, plants must adapt to their surrounding environment. Among other challenges, resisting to the sun-heat is a major one. How do they...
Wondering why modern tomatoes are often so tasteless? New insights on their DNA offer a roadmap to bring back their tasty flavor.
The plant catmint can send your cat into a state of frenzy. It generates a cat-tempting chemical, unlike other members of the mint family. This study has...
More often than previously thought, fungi are able to infect seeds…what are the consequences? Seeds of tropical trees interact with a wide variety of fungal...
Modern tomatoes are very different from the original tomatoes from South America. Breeding has caused the loss of many essential genes, including those for...
Plants need gravity as a constant landmark for shoots to grow upward and roots downward. We have identified a novel mechanism allowing plants to partially defy...
Stings from Australia’s Dendrocnide species of plants cause pain lasting for months. In a new study, Gilding and colleagues have now found out how – these...
The taste of a fruit is largely determined by its sugar composition. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for the accumulation of different sugars will...
Roses smell like red, and violets smell like blue: Can flower colors be linked to their scents? In a Mediterranean scrubland, specific combinations of floral...
A newly discovered protein helps plants to defend themselves against aphids. It restricts these stealthy insects from draining sugar-rich sap from the plant....
Jackfruit is the world’s largest edible single fruit but short growing periods and cross-pollination restrict the commercialization of the its cultivation....
A continuous protective cuticle formed around the embryo is a prerequisite for plant survival in dry environment. We show that a molecular dialogue between the...
Hidden from the eye, plant roots interact with a diverse community of microorganisms living around them. These interactions can have a considerable effect on...
New research demonstrates that coating native plant seeds with chili powder can prevent rodent seed predation and improve native plant restoration, while also...
We have learned how the wheat crop has changed through time, thousands of years back to when it was a wild grass. Equipped with this new knowledge, wheat...
Crop diseases are currently on the rise worldwide due to changes in global climate and farming techniques. We have discovered what is hidden in the cereal...
To improve the protection of species, we developed a machine-learning method that lets us successfully identify plant species that are likely at risk. This...
From flowers to leaves and carnivorous plant traps, humble mounds of cells generate remarkably diverse plant organ shapes. How do plants coordinate growth to...
During domestication humans select and maintain plants that have higher yield and better quality. Until recently, we were unaware of the genetic causes...
Each leaf of the carnivorous Venus flytrap plant ends in a jaw-like trap which imprisons unsuspecting insect prey. The traps are electrically active and...
We have seen in recent years a massive leap forward in plant genetic engineering which holds great promise for future plant breeding. However, the genes that...
Amur honeysuckle, an invasive plant in the United States, is able to cause drastic changes within invaded ecosystems. Management practices might reduce these...
Coffee is a globally significant commodity and the source of livliehoods for millions of farmers worldwide. Our coffee crop plants, represent very recent...
Fig trees (Ficus carica) produce furanocoumarins, a class of small organic molecules with various medicinal and agricultural applications. Villard et al....
Authorities have promoted conservation agriculture as a panacea for sustainable intensification of food production in Africa. Yet, claims that it increases...
Cassava is an important food crop in sub-Saharan Africa, but contains relatively small amounts of essential vitamins and minerals. The addition of just two...
Salt stress triggers a series of responses in plants that are necessary to resist this life-threatening condition. We found that one of these responses...
The common perception of cacti as heat- and drought-loving desert plants causes climate change to be overlooked as a potential threat to their conservation....
Human-induced (anthropogenic) climate change is exposing forests to a growing risk of drought-induced tree mortality. Replacement patterns following drought...
We researched how logging activities impact the ability of a tropical forest to absorb and store carbon. Over a 7-year period in Malaysian Borneo, we found...
