http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. North America isn't known as a hotspot for crop plant diversity, yet a new inventory has uncovered nearly 4,600 wild relatives of crop plants in the United States, including close relatives of globally important food crops such as sunflower, bean, sweet potato, and strawberry. http://phys.org/news286460406.html Biology Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:20:12 EST news286460406 Disease-resistant wheat developed over the past half century helped ensure steady world food supplies, but a global team led by researchers from the University of Minnesota warns in a new paper that without increased financial support for disease resistance research, new strains of a deadly fungal disease could leave millions without affordable access to food. http://phys.org/news285261056.html Biology Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:11:02 EST news285261056 For the first time in nearly a century drinkers will be able to taste beer made from Chevallier, the classic heritage barley from the Victorian period. http://phys.org/news284989846.html Biology Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:50:52 EST news284989846 A team of scientists in Raleigh and Chapel Hill is working to achieve a salmonella-free line of poultry by manipulating bacteria that live in the intestines of chickens. http://phys.org/news281591834.html Biology Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:57:21 EST news281591834 Developing strategies to increase the amount of saleable product while reducing dietary inputs is a priority for animal scientists. University of Illinois researchers have been looking at how dietary components affect gut health and disease resistance in chickens. http://phys.org/news281018065.html Biology Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:34:51 EST news281018065 Pacific Northwest wheat growers now have added insurance against outbreaks of yield-robbing fungi, thanks to "Cara," a new, white winter club wheat cultivar developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. http://phys.org/news280567936.html Biology Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:32:38 EST news280567936 A group of international scientists have sequenced the draft genome sequence of the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis, the major commercial source of natural rubber. The manuscript describing the draft genome is published in BMC Genomics. http://phys.org/news279441512.html Biology Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:00:01 EST news279441512 In a scientific breakthrough that promises improved grain yields and quality, greater drought tolerance and disease resistance, and enhanced genetic diversity, a global research team has completed high-quality sequencing of not one but ninety genomes of chickpea. http://phys.org/news278586592.html Biology Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:12:44 EST news278586592 A new joint research centre at Murdoch University is aiming to improve international competitiveness for Australian grain growers by mapping the entire wheat protein genome. http://phys.org/news276943244.html Biology Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:41:27 EST news276943244 (Phys.org)—Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have sequenced the genetic code of a birch tree for the first time, which could help protect British birch populations. http://phys.org/news272622667.html Biology Tue, 20 Nov 2012 08:50:05 EST news272622667 (Phys.org)—With the help of information technology (IT), Penn State professor Mark Guiltinan makes the world a sweeter place. http://phys.org/news271579842.html Biology Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:00:01 EST news271579842 Research from North Carolina State University on flower production and disease resistance in watermelon varieties should help bolster seedless watermelon harvests for farmers. http://phys.org/news269610715.html Biology Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:52:08 EST news269610715 (Phys.org)—Iowa State University researchers are helping to advance new techniques that allow scientists to site-specifically mutate and edit the genes of living organisms. http://phys.org/news268300552.html Biology Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:56:03 EST news268300552 (Phys.org)—A Queensland strawberry-breeding program has uncovered what could become the nutritional power-berry of the strawberry industry. http://phys.org/news267180025.html Biology Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:50:01 EST news267180025 A new high-throughput screening technique developed by researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center (PSC) has been used to uncover five novel immune-priming compounds in Arabidopsis plants. Discovery of the compounds, which enhance disease resistance without impacting plant growth or crop yield, establishes the new technique as a powerful asset in the battle to protect crops from damaging pathogens. http://phys.org/news266516403.html Biology Tue, 11 Sep 2012 01:00:01 EST news266516403 New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Plant Biology shows how targeting two bacterial genes into an ornamental plant (Pelargonium), can produce long-lived and pollen-free plants. http://phys.org/news265599690.html Biology Fri, 31 Aug 2012 02:41:42 EST news265599690 A newly published genetic sequence and map of foxtail millet, a close relative of switchgrass and an important food crop in Asia, is giving scientists working to increase biofuel and crop yields a powerful new tool. http://phys.org/news257797764.html Biology Fri, 01 Jun 2012 19:29:30 EST news257797764 For the first time, the genome of the tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, has been decoded, and it becomes an important step toward improving yield, nutrition, disease resistance, taste and color of the tomato and other crops. The full genome sequence, as well as the sequence of a wild relative, is jointly published in the latest issue of the journal Nature (May 31, 2012). http://phys.org/news257590459.html Biology Wed, 30 May 2012 13:00:06 EST news257590459 (Phys.org) -- With more than 60,000 descendants in six generations, Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief and his son Walkway Chief Mark cast a long genetic shadow. New research on the genomes of the two bulls show how portions of their DNA that control important traits such as disease resistance or milk production have spread throughout the contemporary Holstein breed, the world’s highest-producing dairy animal. http://phys.org/news254563710.html Biology Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:08:44 EST news254563710 (PhysOrg.com) -- A specific gene in corn seems to confer resistance to three important leaf diseases, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their university colleagues. http://phys.org/news247394042.html Biology Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:30:01 EST news247394042 (PhysOrg.com) -- Strawberry lovers will soon have Herriot -- a sweet treat featuring a flavor reminiscent of historic varieties and a slight pineapple overtone -- to look forward to, thanks to a new variety of large, heart-shaped fruit developed by Cornell. http://phys.org/news245644234.html Biology Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:30:02 EST news245644234 (PhysOrg.com) -- A clearer picture of corn's biochemical responses to insect and fungal attacks is emerging, thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies in Gainesville, Fla. http://phys.org/news245064548.html Biology Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:29:21 EST news245064548 For more than a quarter of a century, Jerald "Snook" Pataky's research in the University of Illinois Sweet Corn Hybrid Disease Nursery has been helping growers make important decisions to increase their profitability. http://phys.org/news244906049.html Biology Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:27:50 EST news244906049 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered how the structure of a protein allows a certain bacteria to interfere with the tomato plant's immune system, causing bacterial speck disease. http://phys.org/news243156938.html Biology Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:00:03 EST news243156938 Fungi found in the leaves and trunks of wild Peruvian cacao trees offer the potential for biological control of cacao diseases such as witches' broom disease, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. Several of the fungal species were previously unknown to science. http://phys.org/news235307078.html Biology Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:05:24 EST news235307078 A new form of resistance to fungal disease has been discovered in oilseed rape, one of the world’s most important crops, which could hold the key to developing disease resistant crops. http://phys.org/news234522158.html Biology Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:03:01 EST news234522158 Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU) and BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, jointly announced the complete sequencing of genomes of four important representative species in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. They are Mongolian sheep, Alxa Bactrian Camel, Mongolian horse, and Mongolian cattle. http://phys.org/news232102123.html Biology Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:49:02 EST news232102123 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a paper release today, a group of scientists from Macquarie University studying the evolution of disease resistance in insects have found evidence that social species of wasps show significantly higher antimicrobial activity than solitary species. http://phys.org/news230290166.html Biology Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:29:38 EST news230290166 Development of disease resistance among Chesapeake Bay oysters calls for a shift in oyster-restoration strategies within the Bay and its tributaries. That's according to a new study by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). http://phys.org/news228389318.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:28:49 EST news228389318 An international research team using a new combination of approaches has found two genes that may prove of vital importance to the lives and livelihoods of millions of farmers in a tsetse fly-plagued swathe of Africa the size of the United States. The team’s results were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). http://phys.org/news224781593.html Biology Mon, 16 May 2011 16:20:16 EST news224781593