Latest Plant physiology Stories

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cavitation Technologies, Inc. (CTI) (OTC Bulletin Board: CVAT; Berlin: WTC) is pleased to announce it has executed a Letter or Intent with Womack Systems, LLC (www.womack-machine.com) for the manufacture of its cutting edge Nano-Cavitation Process Systems. According to Kirk Wiggins, CTI's Director of Sales and Business Development, "The exciting thing about CTI is the diverse applications of our technologies. All of our applications are in...

Israeli scientists say they've discovered light exposure and possibly photosynthesis might be helping bacteria to become internalized by lettuce leaves. Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Israel's Agricultural Research Organization said such internalization would make disease-causing bacteria impervious to washing. In the study, researchers examined the role light and photosynthesis might play on the ability of salmonella bacteria to infiltrate lettuce leaves via stomata -- small pores...

Exposure to light and possibly photosynthesis itself could be helping disease-causing bacteria to be internalized by lettuce leaves, making them impervious to washing, according to research published in the October issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.Salmonella enterica is a common cause of foodborne gastroenteritis, with an estimated number of 1 to 3 million human cases per year in the United States. Fresh produce is increasingly being implicated as a source of...

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...

Holds promise for studying how organisms cleanse themselves of dying cellsNicholas Turro of Columbia University, Bernhard Krautler of the University of Innsbruck, Austria and their colleagues have found that, as chlorophyll ages and begins to disintegrate in banana peels it does not change color in the spectrum of visible light we see. Instead, it glows blue when observed under ultraviolet light.While the light show adds a level of exoticism to the fruit in our eyes, and serves to attract a...

 Deep in Africa's Kalahari Desert lies the "Devil's claw," a plant that may hold the key to effective treatments for arthritis, tendonitis and other illnesses that affect millions each year. Unfortunately, years of drought have pushed the Devil's claw toward extinction, so scientists are scrambling to devise new ways to produce the valuable medicinal chemicals of the Devil's claw and other rare plants.One group of scientists reported a major advance toward that goal here today...

Observations made by Southampton scientists help understand the massive blooms of microscopic marine algae "“ phytoplankton "“ in the seas around Madagascar and its effect on the biogeochemistry of the southwest Indian Ocean.The observations were made by researchers based at the National Oceanography Center, Southampton (NOCS) during a 2005 hydrographic survey south and east of Madagascar while aboard the royal research ship RRS Discovery. The fully analyzed results are published in the...

Walking outdoors in the fall, the splendidly colorful leaves adorning the trees are a delight to the eye. In Europe these autumn leaves are mostly yellow, while the United States and East Asia boast lustrous red foliage. But why is it that there are such differences in autumnal hues around the world? A new theory provided by Prof. Simcha Lev-Yadun of the Department of Science Education- Biology at the University of Haifa-Oranim and Prof. Jarmo Holopainen of the University of Kuopio in...

Pet owners have heard the warnings to keep certain poisonous houseplants away from their pets, such as Dieffenbachia (dumbcane), Philodendron, peace lily, and pothos. For houseplants like these and others, the problem may not just be a poison, but the presence of tiny crystals throughout the plant.A discussion of plants may not bring to mind crystals; however, crystals are found in hundreds of plant families. Despite this, their purpose is not well-understood. Hypotheses include acting as a...

Winter chill, a vital climatic trigger for many tree crops, is likely to decrease by more than 50 percent during this century as global climate warms, making California no longer suitable for growing many fruit and nut crops, according to a team of researchers from the University of California, Davis, and the University of Washington.In some parts of California's agriculturally rich Central Valley, winter chill has already declined by nearly 30 percent, the researchers found."Depending...