News tagged with plant genes

USDA links gene flow between weedy and domesticated rice to rising carbon dioxide levels

(Phys.org) -- New research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirms that rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide facilitate the flow of genes from wild or weedy rice plants to domesticated ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 1 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Jumping gene enabled key step in corn domestication

Corn split off from its closest relative teosinte, a wild Mexican grass, about 10,000 years ago thanks to the breeding efforts of early Mexican farmers. Today it's hard to tell that the two plants were ever close kin: Corn ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Sep 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New genetic study helps to solve Darwin's mystery about the ancient evolution of flowering plants

(PhysOrg.com) -- The evolution and diversification of the more than 300,000 living species of flowering plants may have been "jump started" much earlier than previously calculated, a new study indicates. According ...

Biology / Evolution

created Apr 10, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Not only humans compensate: Dosage compensation of sex chromosomes in plants

Swiss researchers have found evidence that plants also "invented" the dosage compensation of sex chromosomes. They detected this phenomenon in the white campion.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Big pest, small genome: Blueprint of spider mite may yield better pesticides

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international research team decoded the genetic blueprint of the two-spotted spider mite, raising hope for new ways to attack the major pest, which resists pesticides and destroys crops ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

With secondhand gene, 'freaky mouse' defeats common poison

Over millennia, mice have thrived despite humanity's efforts to keep them at bay. A Rice University scientist argues some mice have found two ways to achieve a single goal -- resistance to common poison.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 16 | with audio podcast

Selaginella genome adds piece to plant evolutionary puzzle

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Purdue University-led sequencing of the Selaginella moellendorffii (spikemoss) genome - the first for a non-seed vascular plant - is expected to give scientists a better understanding of how ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 05, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists find how plants grow to escape shade

Mild mannered though they seem, plants are extremely competitive, especially when it comes to getting their fair share of sunlight. Whether a forest or a farm, where plants grow a battle wages for the sun's ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 15, 2012 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer's book in the land of the midnight sun

Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes. Researchers have found a genetic mutation in some Scandinavian barley ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The story of X -- evolution of a sex chromosome

(PhysOrg.com) -- Move over, Y chromosome - it's time X got some attention. In the first evolutionary study of the chromosome associated with being female, University of California, Berkeley, biologist Doris ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 16, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (11) | comments 1

Pod corn develops leaves in the inflorescences

In a variant of maize known as pod corn, or tunicate maize, the maize kernels on the cob are not 'naked' but covered by long membranous husks known as glumes. According to scientists from the Max Planck Institute ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 24, 2012 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

1001 Genome-Project: On the way to a complete catalog of the Arabidopsis genome

People can develop new technologies and animals may migrate to other regions. However, plants are tied to their location. Nevertheless, they have found ways to ensure their survival. This is the case for the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists reveal genetic mutation depicted in van Gogh's sunflower paintings

In addition to being among his most vibrant and celebrated works, Vincent van Gogh's series of sunflower paintings also depict a mutation whose genetic basis has, until now, been a bit of a mystery.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Grass to gas: Researchers' genome map speeds biofuel development

Researchers at the University of Georgia have taken a major step in the ongoing effort to find sources of cleaner, renewable energy by mapping the genomes of two originator cells of Miscanthus x giganteus, a large perenn ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fused genes tackle deadly Pierce's disease in grapevines

A gene fusion research project led by a University of California, Davis, plant scientist delivers a one-two punch to Pierce's disease, a deadly threat to California's world-renowned wine industry.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast