Vitamin E crucial to plants' survival of the cold, study finds

Vitamin E does not play the same role in plants as it does in animals and humans, scientists from the University of Toronto and Michigan State University have found. Rather than protect fats in membranes from certain kinds of stress, Vitamin E instead fulfils a crucial role in plants’ nutrient transport system in cold temperatures. The surprising finding, which has the potential to be applied in the development of biofuels and cold-tolerance in crops, was reported in a recent cover story of The Plant Cell.