Arsenic-contaminated soil and groundwater pose risks to millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Cleaning up the toxic metal is a laborious and expensive process, with some remediations of arsenic reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars. A fern—Pteris vittata, also known as the Chinese brake …
It’s been known for centuries that plants produce a diverse array of medically-valuable chemicals in their roots. The benefits for human health are clear, but it’s been less apparent how and why plants expend 20 percent of their energy building these exotic chemicals. Is it for defence? Is it waste? …
Improved pest resistance and drought tolerance are among potential benefits of an effort of scientists from United States, Argentina, Brazil, China and India that have produced the clearest picture yet of the complex genomic history of the cultivated peanut. Scientists undertook this large project to better understand the molecular and …
Scientists at the University of Illinois have developed new hybrids of purple corn containing different combinations of phytochemicals that may fight obesity, inflammation and diabetes, a new study in mice indicates. The pericarp—or outer layer—of purple and other brightly colored corn kernels also may provide an alternative source of colorants …
Compounds produced by sorghum plants to defend against insect feeding could be isolated, synthesized and used as a targeted, nontoxic insect deterrent, according to researchers who studied plant-insect interactions that included field, greenhouse and laboratory components. The researchers examined the role of sorghum chemicals called flavonoids —specifically 3-deoxyflavonoid and 3-deoxyanthocyanidins—in …
In a new study, a team of scientists at the University of California, Davis, and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) used a unique approach to sequence the genomes of the English walnut and its wild North American relative by tapping into the capabilities of two state-of-the-art technologies: long-read DNA sequencing …
An international team of scientists led by the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), and Michigan State University (MSU) has released the genetic sequence of the cultivated strawberry. These data will provide a genetic roadmap for more precisely selection of desired traits. Whereas most species are diploid, strawberry is an …
Citrus fruits have always been known for their sour, zesty taste. With a little help from science, researches have finally identified what gives the lemon, orange, grapefruit, and other similar fruits their particular tangy flavour. Scientists from the University of Amsterdam found out that the sour taste of citrus fruits …
Тwo laboratories, leaders in different scientific fields – Prof. Dr Roumiana Tsenkova (Kobe University, Japan) performing in-vivo non-destructive near infrared (NIR) spectral monitoring of living systems and Prof. Dr Dimitar Djilianov (Agrobioinsitute, Sofia, Bulgaria) working on resurrection plants, especially H. rhodopensis joined their efforts to uncover the mechanisms of extreme …
New research has discovered how plant roots sense the availability of moisture in soil and then adapt their shape to optimise acquisition of water. The discovery could enable crops to be bred which are more adaptive to changes in climate conditions, such as water scarcity, and help ensure food security …
