News tagged with mutant plants

Ultraviolet protection molecule in plants yields its secrets

Lying around in the sun all day is hazardous not just for humans but also for plants, which have no means of escape. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can damage proteins and DNA inside cells, leading ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Steroids control gas exchange in plants

Plants leaves are sealed with a gas-tight wax layer to prevent water loss. Plants breathe through microscopic pores called stomata (Greek for mouths) on the surfaces of leaves. Over 40% of the carbon dioxide, CO2, in the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 05, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

On guard against drought

Identification of a gene that helps plants to conserve water under drought conditions will bring biologists closer to understanding how plants tolerate drought. Researchers, led by Takashi Kuromori at Japan's ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 28, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

How plants sense touch, gravity and other physical forces

(PhysOrg.com) -- At the bottom of plants' ability to sense touch, gravity or a nearby trellis are mechanosensitive channels, pores through the cells' plasma membrane that are opened and closed by the deformation ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New component of a plant steroid-activated pathway discovered

Plant biologists have been working for years to nail down the series of chemical signals that one class of plant hormones, called brassinosteroids, send from a protein on the surface of a plant cell to the cell's nucleus. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 18, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers discover key mechanism that regulates shape and growth of plants

UBC researchers have discovered a key mechanism that -- much like a construction site foreperson -- controls the direction of plant growth as well as the physical properties of the biopolymers that plants produce.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Study shows genetic rice breeding goes back 10,000 years

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Masanori Yamasaki and colleagues from Kobe University in Japan, describe how they analyzed the genomes of severa ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Researchers discover novel mechanism protecting plants against freezing

New ground broken by Michigan State University biochemists helps explain how plants protect themselves from freezing temperatures and could lead to discoveries related to plant tolerance for drought and other ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 26, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hormone clue to root growth

(PhysOrg.com) -- Plant roots provide the crops we eat with water, nutrients and anchorage. Understanding how roots grow and how hormones control that growth is crucial to improving crop yields, which will be necessary to ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 06, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers identify gene that helps plant cells keep communication channels open

Plant cells communicate via microscopic channels called plasmodesmata that are embedded in their cell walls. For the stem cells in the plants' growing tips, called "meristems," the plasmodesmata are lifelines, allowing nutrients ...

Biology /

created Feb 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0