or not a leaf is edible. Organisms collect somatic genetic mutations throughout their lives. These mutations may have no effect
Researchers from the Australian National University found that in the long-lived eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus melliodora) somatic mutation is also responsible for their interesting ability to produce some branches with leaves that are predated readily
The tree investigated had one branch which was untouched by insects when the rest of the tree was defoliated completely.
which raw material can be stored as seed. This could be of huge benefit in developing countries where problems with storage can render vaccines useless.
If seed could be transported to local production and extraction facilities the technology could also help boost local economies.
Just one farm growing 16000 acres of safflower could meet the world's total demand for insulin.
and only supplying seed to farmers specifically contracted to grow PMPS. Dr Sparrow was involved in a collaboration with EU partners to road test the challenges faced by potential investors.
and in some cases off-flavoured fruit with aborted seeds. In areas affected by HLB citrus management costs have increased dramatically in the last few years:
To study the expression of citrus srnas in response to HLB we grafted 19 greenhouse-grown healthy sweet orange plants with HLB-positive bark or leaf pieces.
Are humans alone in the cosmos and is our life-sustaining world unique? One of the earliest writers to speculate about exoplanets was the Italian philosopher
On the one hand the rising temperatures make vegetation grow more vigorously and therefore more carbon dioxide is taken up
and fungi potential threats to their crops these microbes can help wild plants adapt to extreme conditions according to a Penn State virologist.
A leafy plant related to a common weed known as lamb's quarter was infected also with a virus that caused a local infection.
and in the hot geothermal ground in Yellowstone national park viruses and fungi work together with plants to confer temperature hardiness said Roossinck.
Researchers found that fungi and a type of grass--tropical panic grass--found in Yellowstone national park grow together in temperatures above 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
If the plant and fungus are separated however both die in the same heat levels. Because viruses are often present in plant fungi Roossinck wondered
if viruses played a role in the reaction. I noticed that all of the samples from the geothermal soils had a virus
The researchers found that there was no heat tolerance without the virus. Once the researchers cured the fungus of the virus the plant was unable to withstand the heat.
If you cure the fungus of the virus you no longer have the thermal tolerance. While researchers do not entirely understand the role of viruses in helping plants withstand extreme conditions Roossinck said that future research may help the agricultural industry naturally develop hardier plants rather than rely on chemical solutions that threaten the environment.
Most wild plants are perennials while most of our agriculture crops are said annuals Malmstrom. Sometimes when you mix the properties of the two unexpected things can happen.
When wild-growing perennials do get infected they can serve as reservoirs for viruses Malmstrom said a place where viruses can hang out a long time.
and sand plain vegetation. What makes forcepflies special is the fact that little is known about their biology
The viruses get passed from plants to their offspring through the seeds. Researchers are still trying to uncover exactly
However commercial crops--melons oranges pineapple and aloe--that were growing near the site were not as healthy.
viruses fungi and bacteria whereas in crops farmers try to eliminate the microbes. Perhaps there is a connection.
A typical BECCS system converts woody biomass grass and other vegetation into electricity chemical products or fuels such as ethanol.
But when vegetation is processed at a BECCS facility the CO2 emissions are captured and prevented from reentering the environment.
To make the process carbon negative researchers have proposed a BECCS co-fired power plant that runs on a mixture of fossil fuel (such as coal) and vegetation (wood grass or straw for example.
A percentage of the CO2 emissions would come from burnt vegetation. Therefore capturing and storing those emissions would be a net-negative process.
Biochar is a plant byproduct similar to charcoal that can be made from lumber waste dried corn stalks and other plant residues.
Heating vegetation slowly without oxygen--a process called pyrolysis--produces carbon-rich chunks of biochar that can be placed in the soil as fertilizer.
Using computer models Moreira found that from 1975 to 2007 ethanol production from sugar cane in Brazil resulted in a net-negative capture of 1. 5 metric tons of CO2 per cubic meter of ethanol produced.
Many animals that dwell in trees bushes deadfall or underground perish from the blazes or succumb later from lack of food and shelter or increased predation.
and other objects is being used in the K-State Agronomy Department to determine the level of photosynthetic activity of vegetation in many different situations.
Luke Alphey and colleagues explain that the Lepidoptera a large family of insects with a caterpillar stage cause widespread damage worldwide to cotton;
They developed the lethal genetic sexing system in two pests the pink bollworm which damages cotton crops and the diamondback moth
We also enclosed tree stems in chambers and the results were surprising. About 80 per cent of all methane emissions was venting through the trees.
The roots of trees like all plants need oxygen to survive. One strategy that trees use to cope in waterlogged soil is to enlarge porous structures known as lenticels in their stems to allow air to enter
and diffuse to their roots. Pangala and colleagues have shown that these common adaptations in wetland trees are two-way conduits that also allow soil gas to escape to the atmosphere.
Dr Gauci said: This work challenges current models of how forested wetlands exchange methane with the atmosphere.
The cones in which the pinyon seeds are produced are initiated two years prior to seed maturity
Some scientists believe masting events evolved to produce a big surplus of nut-carrying cones--far too many for wildlife species to consume in a season--making it more likely the nuts eventually will sprout into pinyon pine seedlings she said.
Both Forcella and Redmond were able to document pinyon pine masting years by counting small concave blemishes known as abscission scars on individual tree branches that appeared after the cones have been dropped she said.
Since each year in the life of a pinyon pine tree is marked by a whorl--a single circle of branches extending around a tree trunk--the researchers were able to bracket pinyon pine reproductive activity in the nine study areas for the 1969-1978 decade
#Modern growing methods may be culprit of coffee rust fungal outbreaka shift away from traditional coffee-growing techniques may be increasing the severity of an outbreak of'coffee rust'fungus that has swept through plantations in Central america
Vandermeer and colleague Ivette Perfecto of the U-M School of Natural resources and Environment study the complex web of interactions between resident organisms there including various insects fungi birds and bats.
One element of that web is the white halo fungus which attacks insects and also helps keep coffee rust fungus in check.
Both the widespread use of pesticides and fungicides and the low level of biodiversity found at sun-coffee plantations have contributed likely to the decline of white halo fungus in recent years Vandermeer said.
Without white halo fungus to restrain it coffee rust also known as roya has been able to ravage coffee plantations from Colombia to Mexico he said.
What we feel has been happening is that gradually the integrity of this once-complicated ecosystem has been slowly breaking down
The rust mainly infects coffee leaves but also young fruit and buds. Coffee rust spores are spread by the wind and the rain from lesions on the underside of leaves.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Michigan. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
The impact of this finding may also have heath implications for other groups of people who eat large quantities of rice daily.#
Rapid shifts in ecosystems particularly through vegetation die offs could be among the most striking impacts of increased drought
They did find a notable depressed function in the trees'water-transport systems especially in the roots--some 70 percent loss of water conductivity.
Eight Ways to Say I Love You From Loyola Dietitianred Wine--Pinots shirahs merlots--all red wines are a good source of catechins and resveratrol to aid'good'cholesterol.
The researchers also found that carbon mineralization was a better predictor of corn agronomic performance than other measures that are used currently (pre-sidress nitrate test and leaf chlorophyll.
A team of researchers at the University of California Riverside focused on Phytophthora the pathogen that triggered The irish Famine of the 19th century
The Genus phytophthora contains many notorious pathogens of crops. Phytophthora pathogens cause worldwide losses of more than $6 billion each year on potato (Phytophthora infestans) and about $2 billion each year on soybean (Phytophthora sojae.
The researchers led by Wenbo Ma an associate professor of plant pathology and microbiology focused their attention on a class of essential virulence proteins produced by a broad range of pathogens including Phytophthora called effectors.
The effectors are delivered to and function only in the cells of the host plants the pathogens attack.
The researchers found that Phytophthora effectors blocked the RNA silencing pathways in their host plants (such as potato tomato
Phytophthora has evolved a way to break the immunity of its host plants Ma explained. Its effectors are the first example of proteins produced by eukaryotic pathogens--nucleated single
and Phytophthora--to cause disease and shows too that RNA silencing is an important battleground during infection by pathogens across kingdoms.
Phytophthora effectors have a motif or signature--a specific protein code--that allows the proteins to be delivered into host cells Ma said.
when gluten a protein in wheat barley and rye damages the lining of the small intestine causing a variety of symptoms.
More diverse sites resisted woody plant invasion. Diversity also affected fire itself. More diverse areas had less persistent ground litter making high-intensity fires less likely to recur than in single-species grasslands with more litter serving as fuel.
and with better root systems it's possible that Bt corn uses nitrogen differently than non-resistant strains the scientists hypothesized in turn affecting corn production.
With its resistance to corn rootworm Below explains Bt corn has healthier and more active roots than corn without the resistance trait.
If you can protect the investment the plants made in the root system explains Below you can realize everything that roots do like take up nutrients
The healthy roots and efficient nutrient use of Bt corn could lead to changes in management practices that would further increase production.
Banded or placed fertility a method by which a farmer can place fertilizer where the roots are likely to be would be more effective when used on the robust root system.
When you have a higher population of plants each individual plant has a smaller root system
when you had insects chewing on the roots explains Below. With the Bt corn though you can protect the root system
Plant roots are below ground and are hard to study. It's a big unexplored horizon both in agronomics and crop biology.
what biologists call the hairs that can be found on many plant leaves and stems.
whereas the element cerium did not dissolve into plant tissue. The results contribute to the controversial debate on plant toxicity of nanoparticles
and bound with plant tissue. We used X-ray beams 1000 times thinner than a human hair and the way in
but had reached also the plant pods. A detailed spectral analysis of the X-ray signals showed that the cerium in the nodules
and pods was in the same chemical state as in the nanoparticles. However part of the cerium had changed its oxidation state from Ce (IV) to Ce (III) which can alter the chemical reactivity of the nanoparticles.
As zinc is present in most plants it didn't come as a surprise that zinc from the nanoparticles in the soil can enter into the plant tissue.
Cerium has no chemical partner in the plant tissue and is not biotransformed in the soya bean
The researcher selected three winter cover crops often grown in the Salinas Calif. area--rye mustard
and a legume-rye mix --and planted each cover crop using either a typical seeding rate
Seeding rates can influence a cover crop's ability to smother weeds. During lettuce and broccoli production Brennan ensured all systems received the same fertilizer and irrigation inputs and pest management.
The legume-rye and rye cover crops produced approximately 25 percent more dry matter biomass than the mustard crops.
But effectively suppressing weeds with the legume-rye crops required seeding at three times the typical rate
while rye and mustard crops appeared to suppress weeds adequately with typical seeding rates. The long-term study also provided Brennan with more data about year-to-year yield variations in the legume-rye mix including why legumes
which make up most of the seed costs are not consistently abundant. Brennan thinks cooler early-season weather helps legumes compete with the rye.
So when a hot and dry autumn is expected producers might want to use a rye cover crop
and skip spending the money on a cover crop with legumes. Brennan who works at the ARS Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit in Salinas has published some his findings in Agronomy Journal and Applied Soil Ecology.
Read more about this research in the February 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine: http://www. ars. usda. gov/is/AR/archive/feb13/organic0213. htmstory Source:
and creative thinking on how to perform genetic manipulations in maize that will have the effect of increasing the number of its seeds--which most of us call kernels.
Plant growth and development depend on structures called meristems--reservoirs in plants that consist of the plant version of stem cells.
When prompted by genetic signals cells in the meristem develop into the plant's organs--leaves and flowers for instance.
Jackson's team has taken an interest in how quantitative variation in the pathways that regulate plant stem cells contribute to a plant's growth and yield.
Our simple hypothesis was that an increase in the size of the inflorescence meristem--the stem-cell reservoir that gives rise to flowers
and ultimately after pollination seeds--will provide more physical space for the development of the structures that mature into kernels.
but still partly functional--it is possible as Jackson postulated to increase meristem size and in so doing get a maize plant to produce ears with more rows and more kernels.
which each fertilized seed contained two siblings--an embryo and a corresponding bit of tissue known as endosperm that feeds the embryo as the seed grows said CU-Boulder Professor Pamela Diggle.
and behavior of the embryos and endosperm in seeds sharing the same mother and father with the growth and behavior of embryos and endosperm that had genetically different parents.
The results indicated embryos with the same mother and father as the endosperm in their seed weighed significantly more than embryos with the same mother
but a different father said Diggle a faculty member in CU-Boulder's ecology and evolutionary biology department.
We found that endosperm that does not share the same father as the embryo does not hand over as much food--it appears to be acting less cooperatively.
When the endosperm gives all of its food to the embryo and then dies it doesn't get more altruistic than that.
In corn reproduction male flowers at the top of the plants distribute pollen grains two at a time through individual tubes to tiny cobs on the stalks covered by strands known as silks in a process known as double fertilization.
When the two pollen grains come in contact with an individual silk they produce a seed containing an embryo and endosperm.
While the majority of kernels had an endosperm and embryo of the same color--an indication they shared the same mother
Wu was searching for such rare kernels--far less than one in 100--that had two different fathers as a way to assess cooperation between the embryo and endosperm.
Endosperm--in the form of corn rice wheat and other crops--is critical to humans providing about 70 percent of calories we consume annually worldwide.
The tissue in the seeds of flowering plants is what feeds the world said Friedman who also directs the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard.
If flowering plants weren't here humans wouldn't be here. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Colorado at Boulder.
if land currently covered in non-forest vegetation was converted into deciduous forest. This equates to more than a doubling of forest in Poland Czech republic Denmark Northern Ukraine Northern Germany and France.
%The large leaf area and low aerodynamic resistance of these types of trees lends itself to enhanced evapotranspiration compared to other vegetation cooling the surrounding air and leading to cooler surface temperatures.
#Vegetation changes in cradle of humanity: Study raises questions about impact on human evolutionwhat came first:
A new analysis of the past 12 million years'of vegetation change in the cradle of humanity is challenging long-held beliefs about the world in
The research combines sediment core studies of the waxy molecules from plant leaves with pollen analysis yielding data of unprecedented scope and detail on what types of vegetation dominated the landscape surrounding the African
In addition the tropical C4-type grasses and shrubs of the modern African savannah began to dominate the landscape earlier than thought replacing C3-type grasses that were suited better to a wetter environment.
While earlier studies on vegetation change through this period relied on the analysis of individual sites throughout the Rift valley--offering narrow snapshots--Feakins took a look at the whole picture by using a sediment core taken in the Gulf of Aden where winds funnel
#24 new species of flower fly have been found in Central and Southern Americaa team of scientists have described twenty four new species of dipterans belonging to Quichuana genus of which only a further 24 species were known.
A ten-year study in forests of the American continent has resulted in the description of 24 new insect species from the Quichuana genus that are also known as'flower flies'.
Grasses trees and shrubs have obvious differences but in times of stress their communities exhibit less negative competitive pressure and more facilitative positive interaction.
Analyses of studies of grasses trees and shrubs for example found that despite the obvious differences among these plant types they all shifted toward less negative or more positive interactions.
As a junior faculty member at Brown along the shores of Rhode island he noticed that seaweeds
In our lifetimes we're watching Caribbean coral reefs die kelp forests die and salt marshes and sea grass beds being decimated.
and maples on the University of Michigan's central campus Diag undergraduate researchers and their faculty adviser helped explain an observation that had puzzled insect ecologists who study voracious leaf-munching gypsy moth caterpillars.
Populus a fast-growing perennial tree holds potential as a bioenergy crop due to its ability to produce large amounts of biomass on nonagricultural land.
The ORNL research team measured more than 11000 proteins in different parts of poplar including mature leaves young leaves roots and stems.
and specifically so we can start to figure out for instance how the protein machinery in a leaf differs from the ones in the trunk Hettich said.
For seeds and fruit in particular bright color is thought to have evolved to attract the agents of seed dispersal especially birds.
and ultimately release its seeds over a wide geographic area. The fruit of this bastard hogberry plant was scientifically delightful to pick says principal investigator Peter Vukusic Associate professor in Natural Photonics at the University of Exeter.
Vukusic and his collaborators at Harvard studied the structural origin of the seed's vibrant color.
They discovered that the upper cells in the seed's skin contain a curved repeating pattern which creates color through the interference of light waves.
The team's analysis revealed that multiple layers of cells in the seed coat are made each up of a cylindrically layered architecture with high regularity on the nanoscale.
The researchers exposed extracts of anthocyanin pigments from blueberries chokeberries black raspberries red grapes and strawberries to the saliva collected from 14 people.
Black raspberries in particular have been shown in numerous previous studies to have chemopreventive effects on tumors in the mouth esophagus and colon mostly in animal studies.
In another study they investigated how HLB infection affects juice quality in the same three varieties of orange with respect to cultivar maturity and processing methods.
#Depression-era drainage ditches emerge as sleeping threat to Cape cod salt marshescape Cod Massachusetts has a problem.
and dines almost exclusively on the tall and fast-growing low marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) that lines the marsh edges.
but squattier Spartina patens) and other high marsh plants dominate The old WPA mosquito ditches also fulfill the crabs'habitat requirements.
The gene called Scarecrow is discovered the first to control a special leaf structure known as Kranz anatomy
and sugarcane that is better suited to drought intense sunlight heat and low nitrogen. Researchers have been trying to find the underlying genetics of Kranz anatomy
and anatomy Slewinski recognized that the bundle sheath cells in leaves of C4 plants were similar to endodermal cells that surrounded vascular tissue in roots and stems.
which he knew governed endodermal cells in roots. When the researchers grew those plants they first identified problems in the roots then checked for abnormalities in the bundle sheath.
They found that the leaves of Scarecrow mutants had proliferated abnormal and bundle sheath cells and irregular veins.
and other areas of the world are experiencing an increase in bush and wildfires which may continue
and Lina Duan found that not all types of roots are inhibited equally. They discovered that an inner layer of tissue in the branching roots that anchor the plant is sensitive to salt
and activates a stress hormone which stops root growth. The study published in the current issue of The Plant Cell is a boon for understanding the stress response and for developing salt-resistant crops.
Roots are associated intimately with their environment and develop highly intricate branched networks that enable them to explore the soil.
The branching roots grow horizontally off the main root and are important for water and nutrient uptake.
The scientists grew seedlings of a laboratory plant (Arabidopsis) that is a relative of mustard using a custom imaging system
This ability to track root growth in real time led the scientists to observe that branching roots entered a dormant phase of growth as salt was introduced.
To understand how Abscisic acid controls growth the investigators devised a strategy to inhibit the response to this hormone in different tissue layers of the root.
Interestingly the'inner-skin'of the root called the endodermis was most critical for this process.
although the situation is unknown in many areas as explained to SINC by Rocã o Rosa Garcã a researcher at SERIDA and coauthor of the study.
The bad reputation given to goats stems from one of its main virtues: it has an extraordinary capacity to adapt to the most difficult of environmental conditions in places where other domestic livestock species would not survive.
and often the goat is the only source of animal protein in their diet explains Rosa Garcã a. The team led by Koldo Osoro Otaduy manager of the Animal Production Systems Area at SERIDA
This has affected not only vegetation but also certain indigenous species in India China and Mongolia. To counteract this the study also considers a large number of cases in which the species plays an important role in environmental conservation.
These include their use in the fight against fires in areas dominated by bushes and in controlling exotic vegetation plagues that could put ecosystems at risk.
We wanted to perform a global review taking into account very different regions of the world from the Himalayan peaks to tropical areas
and whether it interferes with the survival of the most sensitive species outlines Rosa Garcã a. Story Source:
Biologist Ramakrishna Wusirika and his team made their anticancer cocktail with blobs of rice stem-cells called calli
which they cultured in their lab using seeds of the garden-variety rice plant Oryza sativa.
and kidney cancer cells in the lab. After 96 hours of exposure to a 20-to-1 rice callus solution 95 percent of the kidney cancer cells were killed
Wusirika thinks the rice callus culture may be attacking cancer with the same sort of plant chemicals that make vegetables so healthy to eat.
He also wants to determine which of the compounds released by the rice callus have cancer-killing properties
Or he notes it's possible that the suite of biochemicals found in the callus solution work as a team to fight cancer.
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