Latest Plant hormone Stories
Findings could lead to new strategies for sustainable agriculture and biofuel productionYou might think bacteria that "invade" trees are there to cause certain destruction. But like the helpful bacteria that live within our guts, some microbes help plants thrive. To find out what makes these microbe-plant interactions "tick," scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory decoded the genome of a plant-dwelling microbe they'd previously...
People aren't the only living things that suffer from stress. Trees must deal with stress too. It can come from a lack of water or too much water, from scarcity of a needed nutrient, from pollution or a changing climate. Helping trees and crops adapt to stress quickly and efficiently is a pressing goal of plant biologists worldwide.Now research led by Michigan Technological University scientists has identified the molecular mechanism that Populus"”the scientific name for common poplars,...
Trinexapac-ethyl proves effective during prolonged periods of drought stressIrrigation water for turfgrass has become increasingly restricted due to environmental factors such as insufficient precipitation; increased domestic, agricultural, and industrial consumption; and contamination of potable water supplies. This water deficit has created an increased need to identify promising water conservation strategies and implement stringent restrictions in water use.In their ongoing search for ways...
Tübingen-based developmental geneticists research organ development in the plant embryoIn the beginning is the fertilized egg cell. Following numerous cell divisions, it then develops into a complex organism with different organs and tissues. The largely unexplained process whereby the cells simply "know" the organs into which they should later develop is an astonishing phenomenon. Scientists from the Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP) of the University of Tübingen and...
Molecular biology of drought tolerance comes into focusRecent work at Washington University in St. Louis sheds light on one of the most important events in earth-history, the conquest of land by plants 480 million years ago.No would-be colonizer could have survived on dry land without the ability to deal with dehydration, a major threat for organisms accustomed to soaking in water.Clues to how the first land plants managed to avoid drying out might be provided by bryophytes, a group that...
Max Planck scientists discovered how certain hormones control aspects of root branching in plantsRoots are the most underestimated parts of a plant, even though they are crucial for water and nutrient uptake and consequently growth. In a world of changing water availability and an ever-increasing human population, it will therefore be crucial to understand how root development is controlled in plants. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany,...
The innermost secrets of fire's role in the rebirth and renewal of forests and grasslands are being revealed in research that has identified plant growth promoters and inhibitors in smoke. In the latest discovery about smoke's secret life, an international team of scientists are reporting discovery of a plant growth inhibitor in smoke. The study appears in ACS's Journal of Natural Products, a monthly publication."Smoke plays an intriguing role in promoting the germination of seeds of...
Structural study at EMBL reveals how plants respond to water shortagesMuch as adrenaline coursing through our veins drives our body's reactions to stress, the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is behind plants' responses to stressful situations such as drought, but how it does so has been a mystery for years. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) in Valencia, Spain discovered that the...
Light manipulation technique effective, environmental alternative for growing holiday favoritePoinsettias can be a lucrative crop for ornamental plant growers, particularly during the Christmas season. In the temperate regions of the southern hemisphere, where poinsettias are grown for both export and local markets, high-demand time for holiday sales occurs during the summer, when warm temperatures and stronger light can accelerate plant growth, often resulting in unmarketable plants.To...
Scientists have shown that the main shoot dominates a plant's growth principally because it was there first, rather than due to its position at the top of the plant.Collaborating teams from the University of York in the UK and the University of Calgary in Canada combined their expertise in molecular genetics and computational modeling to make a significant discovery that helps explain why pruning encourages plants to thrive.Understanding of the action and interaction of these hormones can...
