New insights into regulation of root initiation

When young, dark-grown seedlings of thale cress are given light, they start to form roots from the stem-like part of the plant called the hypocotyl. Abdellah Lakehal used this system to study how the initiation of these adventitious ...

Groundwork for playing with the architecture of plants

Growing tomatoes at the same height so that they can be easily picked by a harvesting robot. Growing deeper roots where the soil is dry. These types of changes to plant architecture may well be enabled in the future thanks ...

Newly discovered regulation process explains plant development

Vascular tissue in plants distributes water and nutrients, thereby ensuring constant growth. Each new cell needs to develop into its respective cell type in the vascular tissue. A team at the Technical University of Munich ...

Genome archaeologists uncover the origin of a plant hormone

In their quest for the origin of the universal auxin hormone in plants, Wageningen-based biochemists and bioinformaticists took on the mantle of archaeologists. Deep in the evolutionary history of plant life on earth, about ...

Communication via calcium wave

Based on what we know today, the plant hormone auxin influences all aspects of plant growth and development. It makes corn thrive from germination to harvest, causes trees to grow skyward and date palms to produce sweet fruits. ...

Signaling pathways to the nucleus

A team of researchers from the University of Freiburg have discovered how the plant hormone auxin is transported within cells and how this signaling pathway helps to control gene expression in the nucleus. Auxin regulates ...

Moulds produce plant growth hormone

Plants, bacteria and various fungi produce a specific group of hormones known as auxins. Together with other hormones, they cause plant cells to stretch and thus, for example, the rapid growth of young shoots. The manner ...

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