and Genomics (CBGP) of Universidad Politã cnica de Madrid (UPM) conducted infection assays of commercial kiwis with Alternaria alternata spores which is a pathogenic fungus involved in chronic asthma
A protein known as Alt a 1 and related to the virulence is found in the spores this protein is described as the major allergen of this fungus.
Researchers conducted tests by infecting commercial kiwifruit with spores of Alternaria alternata and they detected the presence of Alt a 1 a protein of fungal virulence.
and Kiwi proteins) they detected the presence of Alt a 1 in the pulp. What is more they observed that this fungal protein is found in the same areas that the defense protein of the kiwifruit.
Ravens and possibly arctic foxes scavenged exposed portions of her carcass including parts of the trunk and skull and the fat hump that likely covered the back of her neck.
In Lyuba the scans revealed a solid mass of fine-grained sediment blocking the air passages in the middle of the trunk.
Slightly coarser sediment was found in Khroma's trunk mouth and throat. Her lungs weren't available for study
In general the team found that organic crops have several nutritional benefits that stem from the way the crops are produced.
The leading explanation is that certain fertilizers approved for use only on conventional farms somehow make cadmium more available to plant roots.
Drip irrigation delivers water directly to plant roots underground instead of sprinkling plants from above. In Leinauer's and Sevostianova's vision a decentralized treatment system at a subdivision would be tailored to generate effluent during the summer that contained 15 parts per million (ppm) of the nutrient nitrate.
#Beloved crape myrtle in nurseries now susceptible to bacterial leaf spotit's enough to send gardeners into conniptions.
and even its colorful bark now has a disease problem--although so far only in the commercial nursery setting.
University of Florida researchers had been getting sporadic reports from nursery owners over the last five years of a leaf spot problem
They believe it is the first report of the bacterium causing leaf spot in crape myrtle.
Bacterial leaf spot doesn't kill the ornamental tree but creates spots on its leaves that eventually turn yellow and drop.
The varieties Natchez Osage Fantasy Basham's Party Pink and Miami have proven highly resistant to bacterial leaf spot
It's ideally suited to the southern climate it blooms for a long time it comes in lots of different colors
Impacts of invasive ants can include direct effects such as displaced local species and indirect effects on key ecological functions such as frugivory pollination and seed dispersal.
Research has demonstrated that firewood harbors many bark-and wood-boring insects. In 2008 co-author Robert Haack of the Forest Service's Northern Research Station found that nearly 25 percent of firewood intercepted at the Mackinac bridge between Michigan's Upper
and Lower peninsulas carried live bark -and wood-boring insects and an additional 41 percent displayed evidence of prior borer infestation.
Plants grown from neonicotinoid-treated seed have the pesticide in all their tissues including the nectar and pollen.
He explained that biotrophic pathogens such as SCN need plant tissue to survive but the fungus that causes charcoal rot is necrotrophic meaning that it kills the plant tissue then lives on the dead plant cells.
We need to understand at the molecular level how these two pathogens interact when they are present in soybean fields.
The stems and leaf stalks have very short hairs as well as prickles or spines about one-fifth-inch long but that's still long enough to stick you Bohs says.
because its flower petals are white instead of yellow and its flower stalks are longer and flowers are larger than closely related species. There also are differences from other species in leaf shape and in stem hairs.
Also a study published in 2010 by Stern Bohs and Utah postdoctoral researcher Terri Weese showed the plant's DNA differed from known species
. And the plant is an annual while related species are perennials. So Bohs and colleagues decided to try to find more specimens.
and brown and had some seeds we thought we'd be able to germinate but they weren't any good.
In all Androceras species the calyx or outer envelope of the flower and fruit is really spiny Bohs says.
but not symmetrical in all directions because the five petals vary in size. Four of its yellow anthers--pollen organs within the flower--are the same size
but the fifth is bigger. It's got a beautiful interesting flower form unique in Solanum Bohs says.
Chinese cinnamon (Cinnamonum cassia) and original Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamonum verum) are two major types of cinnamon that are available in the US. â#oealthough both types of cinnamon are metabolized into sodium benzoate by mass
spectrometric analysis we have seen that Ceylon cinnamon is much more pure than Chinese cinnamon as the latter contains coumarin a hepatotoxic moleculeâ#said Pahan. â#oeunderstanding how the disease works is important to developing effective drugs that protect the brain
which resemble small rhinos with no horns and a short mobile trunk or proboscis. Heptodon was about half the size of today's tapirs
and it lacked the short trunk that occurs on later species and their living cousins.
Based upon its teeth it was probably a leaf-eater which fits nicely with the rainforest environment indicated by the fossil plants at Driftwood Canyon said Dr. Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado lead author of the study.
aboveground biomass (live plants) dead organic matter leaf litter (layer that contains a combination of fragments of leaves branches
The only thing we didn't measure was the carbon stock in the roots she said.
when the fungal spores were injected into the bloodstream as well as to survive passage through the GI TRACT
when the spores were ingested orally. When people think about food-borne pathogens normally they list bacteria viruses and maybe parasites.
and retain students in science technology engineering and math or STEM. The competition is intended to link student design projects with senior
whether radish roots and shoots will grow differently in microgravity. Students from Cottage Lane Elementary in Rockland County New york and Hillsborough County Florida envisioned astronauts growing their own lettuce.
The Cottage Lane students hope to determine how long the plant takes to germinate in microgravity while the Florida group looks at the frequency of lettuce seed germination in space.
and may even exploit them to identify the most nutritious plant tissues. These results show how knowledge of natural plant defenses can be applied practically in agricultural systems.
#Payback time for soil carbon from pasture conversion to sugarcane productionthe reduction of soil carbon stock caused by the conversion of pasture areas into sugarcane plantations--a very common change in Brazil in recent
and Harvard university Colorado State university and the Shell Technology Center Houston in the United states. Findings from the project Soil carbon stocks on land-use change process to sugarcane production in South-central Brazil carried out with funding from FAPESP
The study indicates that the soil carbon balance of pasture areas converted for the cultivation of sugarcane designed for ethanol production is not as negative as originally estimated said Carlos Clemente Cerri project coordinator and researcher at CENA.
However the process of preparing this type of soil for conversion to sugarcane plantations causes part of the carbon stock to be emitted into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2.
In contrast depending on the type of management the introduction of sugarcane to pasture areas could compensate for
Moreover the ethanol produced from sugarcane grown in these areas over time ultimately offsets the CO2 emissions that occur during the conversion process
The researchers conducted measurements and collected 6000 soil samples from 135 regions in south-central Brazil which is responsible for more than 90%of Brazil's sugarcane production.
At each of the sites soil samples were collected from areas of sugarcane cultivation and from other areas to be used as reference.
According to the researchers the study findings could contribute toward guiding expansion policies for sugarcane production aimed at producing ethanol to ensure the biofuel's sustainability--Ethanol demand in Brazil is expected to jump from an annual total of 25 million liters to 61.6
The professor indicated that to reach this number the area of sugarcane production in Brazil would need to expand from the current 9. 7 million hectares to 17 million hectares.
Cerri notes that among the options for reaching the target area the priority for expansion of production is expected to be the conversion of degraded lands principally those used as pastures into sugarcane plantations.
Between 2000 and 2010 three million Brazilian hectares were converted to sugarcane cultivation areas. More than 70%of this land consisted of pastures
whereas intolerant lines will have stunted roots. Our identification of the genes and their variants responsible for this adaptation to boron toxicity means that we now have molecular markers that can be used in breeding programs to select lines for boron tolerance with 100%accuracy.
You see similar variation in the size and distribution of structures in a cross-section of bone or a bamboo stalk.
Brennan and Leap evaluated the effectiveness of three secondary tillage implements for soil incorporation of broadcast cover crop seed compared with drilled seed using legume-rye cover crop mixtures.
and broadcast plus disc) and point implements (seeder seeder plus rototiller seeder plus cultivator and seeder plus disc) for planting rye mixed with either purple or common vetch
The experiments were conducted in Salinas California with winter-and spring-sown cover crops for establishing rye mixed with either purple
because the broadcasting methods all used a second pass to incorporate the seed. According to the authors drilled cover crops had greater uniformity
and soluble sugar in plant tissues were thought to influence the resistance and resilience of trees positively during periods of drought this supposition had not been proven.
It became clear that young trees with more stored carbohydrates were able to maintain the vital water content in the stem for longer than those with fewer stored carbohydrates.
and vegetable juice powder concentrate capsules twice daily (Juice Plus+Â NSA Collierville TN). One group (FV) was given capsules containing a blend of fruit
and vegetable concentrate powders. Another group's capsules (FVB) contained the same ingredients with additional berry juice concentrate powder
and the control group was given a placebo. All subjects underwent blood sampling and respiratory tests before and after 3 months of supplementation.
per cent increase in sugar cane production and a 130 per cent increase in oil palm production the researchers calculated.
and palm oil the rapid growth rate of sugar cane has put it at the forefront of biofuel crops.
along with rising gasoline prices has led to the world's largest fleet of flex-fuel vehicles fueled by the over 36 million tonnes of sugar cane currently grown in the country.
The challenge for Brazil lies in identifying optimal lands for expanding sugarcane while still meeting demands for food crops and conserving native forests and savannas.
Unlike the Amazon which remains over 80%forested over half of the Cerrado has been cleared for agriculture including sugar cane biofuel crops.
Macedo and Davidson note the new research shows that it would take 17 years of sugar cane production to make up for the carbon losses caused by clearing the Cerrado.
In contrast converting already cleared pastures to sugar cane production provides a nearly immediate carbon payback
For Dr. Macedo Because Brazil has a large supply of under-used low productivity pastures that are suitable for sugar cane there is no reason to clear additional native Cerrado for sugar cane production.
Not a true apple this relative of the eggplant smothers native grasses with its thorny stalks while its striking yellow fruit provides a deadly temptation to sheep and cattle.
When fruit goes in one end seeds come out the other. Though some seeds are destroyed during digestion most reemerge
and are potentially able to germinate. Pringle and Tarnita developed a mathematical model to conduct a sort of cost-benefit analysis of how the Sodom apple's ability to proliferate is affected by being eaten.
The model weighed the cost to the plant of being consumed partially against the potential benefit of having healthy seeds scattered across the countryside in an animal's droppings.
The model showed that to offset the damage an elephant wreaks on a plant 80 percent of the seeds the animal eats would have to emerge from it unscathed.
On top of that each seed would have to be 10-times more likely to take root than one that simply fell to the ground from its parent.
while feeding and also spread a lot of seeds in their dung. Of the seeds eaten by an impala only 60 percent would need to survive
and those seeds would have to be a mere three times more likely to sprout than a seed that simply fell from its parent.
A model allows you to explore a space you're not fully able to reach experimentally said Tarnita who uses math to understand the outcome of interactions between organisms.
However in this study lesions appeared on noninoculated stalks when irrigation intervals were lengthened. Thus water stress may trigger the induction of symptoms the authors said.
Remarkably analyses showed that 25%to 43%of noninoculated lucky bamboo stalks included in the study contained the latent presence of Colletotrichum dracaenophilum.
LMU biologist Professor Susanne Renner and her research group have looked now at the effects of this warming trend on the timing of leaf emergence (leaf-out in a broad range of shrubs and trees.
The inducers of leaf-outit is believed widely that warmer temperatures will extend the growing season and that leaf-out in our flora will occur at progressively earlier times in the year.
However whether air temperature or day-length is the dominant factor determining the date of leaf-out is known actually for very few of the thousands of species of trees
and shrubs says Renner. As Director of Munich's Botanic Garden she was in a position to remedy this situation.
and Renner and her doctoral student Constantin Zohner have taken advantage of this unique resource to monitor the timing of leaf-out in nearly 500 different species of woody plants.
Temperature and day-length are the primary triggers of leaf development and selective forces during the course of evolution have determined
which leaf-out occurs relatively late in the year Renner adds. The beech in Central europe is a relic of the warmer temperatures that prevailed during the Tertiary period;
leaf emergence requires 13 hours of daylight regardless of whether the spring was warm or cool and moist.
Moreover species that are adapted already to our northerly climates are unlikely to undergo leaf-out at ever earlier times
what is left are tops and branches--waste which cannot be used. However according to researchers it is possible to turn these heaps of lopwood into high-quality charcoal.
Branches tops lopwood and brushwood that are left in felled areas after the timber has been extracted are now set to become more than just an irritation to hikers and berry-pickers.
and permanently eliminated spore germination. In collaboration with University of California-Davis he found the bacteria prevented the spread of fungi on bat skin without touching the skin.
#Surprising spread of spring leaf-out timesdespite conventional wisdom among gardeners foresters and botanists that woody plants all leaf out at about the same time each spring a new study organized by a Boston
University biologist found a surprisingly wide span of as much as three months in leaf-out times.
Significantly observations the past two springs of 1597 woody plants in eight botanical gardens in the U s. Canada Germany and China suggest that species differences in leaf-out times could impact the length of the growing season
As species distribution and abundance shift due to climate change interspecific differences in leaf-out timing may affect ecosystem processes such as carbon water
Our open-access leaf-out data provide a critical framework for monitoring and modelling such changes going forward.
While previous researchers observed leaf-out for a limited numbers of species in a single location this study uniquely obtained observations of the same species from gardens around the world.
some species tend to leaf out early others late. Prior to this study no one would have suspected that there was so much difference in the leafing out times of different species says BU Prof.
And certain groups of plants--such as honeysuckles willows lilacs and apples--tended to leaf out early while other groups--such as oak beeches honey locusts and grapes--tended to
leaf out late. As a result forests will have flushes of new leaves over an extended period
Leaf-out phenology affects a wide variety of ecosystem processes and ecological interactions and will take on added significance as leaf-out times increasingly shift in response to warming temperatures associated with climate change the study said.
There is however relatively little information available on the factors affecting species differences in leaf out phenology.
Primack explained that as the climate warms trees will tend to leaf out earlier in the spring perhaps extending the growing season and affecting animal behavior.
But this pattern will become complicated if the overall tree composition changes. For example in eastern North america maple and birch trees which leaf out early may be replaced gradually by more heat-tolerant oak trees
which tend to leaf out later in the spring. The data was obtained by walking around each of the botanical gardens once a week
and recording the appearance of first leafing out for all of the species. Leaf-out time was considered
when the young leaves had emerged from their buds and their adult shape could be seen even though the leaves were still small.
When roots cannot take up enough water up from the soil to replace evaporated water plants experience stress said Ingram.
The enzymes increase the antioxidant activity from the grape seeds and skins. New uses could include food additives or nutritional supplements.
and an Ecological Society of America SEEDS Undergraduate Research Fellowship (funded by the National Science Foundation).
and cassava a tuber that is the third-largest source of carbohydrates in the tropics.
and Strauss at Oregon State to trace the function of EBB1 in buds and other plant tissues responsible for setting forth the first green shoots of spring.
They found that EBB1 codes for a protein that helps to restart cell division in a part of the tree known as meristem
It was developed from rapeseed at the University of Manitoba in the 1970s. Canola oil contains only 7 per cent saturated fat less than half that of olive oil widely touted for its health benefits.
These insect-eating mammals'name comes from their noses'resemblance to the trunk of an elephant.
A leaf-tailed gecko hatched June 2. The leaf-tailed gecko is a large nocturnal gecko from Madagascar threatened with extensive habitat loss from cattle grazing logging agriculture and collection for the pet trade.
Three loggerhead shrike chicks hatched in Mid-may at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute In front Royal Va. Loggerhead shrikes also called butcher birds are songbirds that hunt small animals by impaling them on thorns or barbed wire.
But researchers in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life sciences have found an effective way to kill poison ivy using a naturally occurring fungus that grows on the fleshy tissue surrounding the plant's seed potentially giving homeowners and forest managers the ability to rid
Jelesko noticed that not only were some of the seeds failing to germinate but on the seedlings that did germinate there was a blight wiping out the young seedlings.
and the seeds that didn't germinate. The fungus caused wilt and chlorophyll loss on the seedlings just by placing it at the junction of the main stem and root collar of the plant at three weeks post-inoculation.
At seven weeks post-inoculation all but one of the plants had died. Though herbicides are available to kill poison ivy Jelesko
and birds eat the seeds all to no ill effects. Jelesko and Kasson have filed for a patent disclosure of their current findings
and is involved in signaling iron concentrations â#from leaves to roots â#to regulate how much iron from the soil is needed by the plant.
This function allows the plant to partition cadmium away from the edible portions of plants including seeds (grain.
Combing through the 36000-plus genes found in Eucalyptus (nearly twice as many as in the human genome) the researchers homed in on those that may influence the production of secondary cell wall material that can be processed for pulp paper biomaterials and bioenergy applications.
and expression in woody tissues we defined a core set of genes as well as novel lignin-building candidates that are expressed highly in the development of xylem--the woody tissue that helps channel water throughout the plant
Examples for such a combination of two genomes called allopolyploidy are found abundantly in both wild plants and crops like wheat rapeseed and cotton.
For example this method is used to play a trick on grape phylloxera a notorious pest of commercial grapevines that attacks the roots of the plants.
By grafting pest-sensitive elite grape cultivars onto pest-resistant wild rootstocks infestation is prevented effectively.
When these fast-moving streams--full of detritus from forest foliage--hit the slow-moving lake the debris falls out of suspension
and yeast respectively during the initial fermentation of cocoa pulp sugars says Wittmann. The acetic acid bacteria then process these simultaneously via separate metabolic pathways ultimately producing acetate from them.
It could happen with new plant-breeding toolsince the first plant genome sequence was obtained for the plant Arabidopsis in 2000 scientists have sequenced gene everything from cannabis to castor bean.
Imagine if you didn't have to plant seeds for crops --if crops were just like your flowers
Together with students and colleagues at the University of California Berkeley Alexandra Klein manipulated almond trees by preventing bees from pollinating blossoms with the help of cages allowing the bees to pollinate the blossoms
They aerate the soil cycle nutrients and play a role in plant defense and seed dispersal.
They found that tropical forests absorb almost two billion tonnes of carbon each year equivalent to one-fifth of the world's carbon emissions by storing it in their bark leaves and soil.
one to join with the egg cell to produce the embryo and one to join with a second cell to produce the nutrient-rich endosperm inside the seed.
Interestingly DAZ1 and DAZ2 perform their role by cooperating with a well-known'repressor'protein called TOPLESS that acts as a brake on unwanted gene activity that would otherwise halt sperm and seed production.
and allows forests to store more carbon dioxideevery spring as the weather warms trees in forests up and down the east coast explode in a bright green display of life as leaves fill their branches
Polarization patterns occur on the petals of real flowers but are invisible to us and thus may be overlooked a hitherto component of floral signalling.
The Parrot came with a protective polystyrene hull for use indoors and Bowman has demonstrated it during meetings with area farmers.
The drones also may be deployed in the battle against Palmer amaranth an invasive weed that is spreading across the Midwest
Palmer amaranth is becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides and spreads so prolifically that it could drastically reduce farmers'yield potential in affected fields.
#Human stem cells successfully transplanted, grown in pigsone of the biggest challenges for medical researchers studying the effectiveness of stem cell therapies is that transplants
or grafts of cells are rejected often by the hosts. This rejection can render experiments useless making research into potentially lifesaving treatments a long and difficult process.
By establishing that these pigs will support transplants without the fear of rejection we can move stem cell therapy research forward at a quicker pace.
Once the scientists implanted the cells the pigs did not reject the stem cells and the cells thrived.
Now that we know that human stem cells can thrive in these pigs a door has been opened for new and exciting research by scientists around the world Roberts said.
#Tree hugging helps koalas keep their coolaustralia's koalas cope with extreme heat by resting against cooler tree trunks new research has revealed.
Access to cool tree trunks would significantly reduce the amount of heat stress for koalas. Co-author Dr Michael Kearney said the findings were important as climate change is bringing about more extreme weather.
Cool tree trunks are likely to be an important microhabitat during hot weather for other tree dwelling species including primates leopards birds and invertebrates.
and the bacteria were not able to survive inside the phloem of the plant where osmotic pressure from sugar is said highâ Fernando Pagliai a co-author of the study
Phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients to all parts of the plant.
which sucks on leaf sap and leaves behind bacteria. The bacteria then move through the tree via the phloem.
The disease starves the tree of nutrients damages its roots and the tree produces fruits that are green and misshapen unsuitable for sale as fresh fruit or for juice.
Most infected trees die within a few years. The disease has affected already millions of citrus trees in North america
UF/IFAS researchers have attempted everything from trying to eradicate the psyllid to breeding citrus rootstock that shows better greening resistance.
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