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Deterring signals: Tobacco plants advertise their defensive readiness to attacking leafhoppers

Following herbivory, plants produce jasmonic acid, a hormone which activates several plant defense reactions. Scientists found that leafhoppers can evaluate whether tobacco plants are ready for defense when attacked. If jasmonate-signaling ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Totally rad: Scientists create rewritable digital data storage in DNA

(Phys.org) -- Scientists from Stanford's Department of Bioengineering have devised a method for repeatedly encoding, storing and erasing digital data within the DNA of living cells.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Blossom end rot plummets in transgenic tomato

The brown tissue that signals blossom end rot in tomatoes is a major problem for large producers and home gardeners, but a Purdue University researcher has unknowingly had the answer to significantly lowering ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 3

Friendly Fungi: Elucidating the fungal biosynthesis of stipitatic acid

(Phys.org) -- In a tale worthy of Sherlock Holmes, scientists in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, UK have solved a biochemical mystery that had previously proven elusive for 70 years: ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast feature

Researchers uncover how plant skin is assembled

(Phys.org) -- For the first time, scientists have identified how a plant's skin is assembled.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New means of safeguarding world fish stocks proven

Powerful and versatile new genetic tools that will assist in safeguarding both European fish stocks and European consumers is reported in Nature Communications. The paper reports on the first system proven to identify popula ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

New details about gene regulation explained

(Phys.org) -- When genetic information is read from the genetic blueprint DNA, RNA polymerase II translates it into RNA molecules. The C-terminal domain, abbreviated as CTD, is an important area of the polymerase ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mapping the genomes of crocodiles and alligators -- It's not for the faint of heart

(Phys.org) -- David Ray never turns his back on his research, and with good reason! "If it can't bite you, it's not interesting," he jokes.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The gene that boosts sugar beet yields

A European team of researchers has discovered a gene with the potential to increase sugar beet yields. Presented in the journal Current Biology, the findings of the study show how the long-sought bolting gene B ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In cod we trust: DNA test combats fisheries fraud

Scientists on Tuesday said they had devised a DNA test to pinpoint the geographical origins of commercial seafish, in a breakthrough against illegal trawling that threatens fish stocks worldwide.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Does polyploidy play a role in the onset of the Italian endemic flora?

Besides the obvious differences between plants and animals, subtle ones lie concealed within the cell, even within the nucleus. In both plant and animal cells, the nucleus contains DNA, which condenses into ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

How plants chill out

Plants elongate their stems when grown at high temperature to facilitate the cooling of their leaves, according to new research from the University of Bristol published today in Current Biology. Understanding why plants alter ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Supercharged safflower

This scientific achievement has produced safflower seed oil that contains more than 90 per cent of this valuable fatty acid, the highest level of purity of an individual fatty acid currently available in any ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Plant enzyme's origins traced to non-enzyme ancestors

(Phys.org) -- As plants began to transition from aquatic habitats to dry land some 500 million years ago, their needs changed. Those primitive ancestors of modern plants were ill-equipped to survive in a dry, sunlight-blasted ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cellular secrets of plant fatty acid production understood; discovery could boost bioeconomy

(Phys.org) -- Research groups from Iowa State University and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have uncovered the function of three plant proteins, a discovery that could help plant scientists boost ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast