Assembling the transcriptome of a noxious weed: New resources for studying how plants invade
Microbes team up to boost plants' stress tolerance
(Phys.org)—While most farmers consider viruses and fungi potential threats to their crops, these microbes can help wild plants adapt to extreme conditions, according to a Penn State virologist.
Natural soil antibiotics offer alternative to farm chemicals
Several naturally occurring antibiotics can control disease and promote crop health, offering an alternative to chemicals currently used in farming.
Scientists identify genetic mechanism that contributed to Irish Famine
When a pathogen attacks a plant, infection usually follows after the plant's immune system is compromised. A team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside focused on Phytophthora, the pa ...
Shortage of plant disease experts threatens tree and crop health, report finds
Viral alliances overcoming plant defenses
Washington State University researchers have found that viruses will join forces to overcome a plant's defenses and cause more severe infections.
Unusual genetic structure confers major disease resistance trait in soybean
Scientists have identified three neighboring genes that make soybeans resistant to the most damaging disease of soybean. The genes exist side-by-side on a stretch of chromosome, but only give resistance when ...
Modern DNA techniques applied to nineteenth-century potatoes
Researchers led by Professor Bruce Fitt, now at the University of Hertfordshire, have used modern DNA techniques on late nineteenth-century potatoes to show how the potato blight may have survived between ...
UW scientists probe, attack late blight in potatoes
(Phys.org)—As the annual potato harvest begins, Wisconsin farmers continue to check their fields for late blight, the ferocious plant disease that caused the 1848 Irish potato famine and fueled massive ...
Unexpected finding shows fungi may not help store climate change's extra carbon
Fungi found in plants may not be the answer to mitigating climate change by storing additional carbon in soils as some previously thought, according to an international team of plant biologists.
Researchers uncover reason that male moths can keep finding females
(Phys.org) -- A female moth sitting on a goal post could attract a male moth on the other end of a football field. And even if she switched her scent over time, the male could still find her because of a mutation to a single ...
Glyphosate-resistant 'superweeds' may be less susceptible to diseases
(Phys.org) -- Scientists searching for clues to understand how superweeds obtain resistance to the popular herbicide glyphosate may have been missing a critical piece of information, a Purdue University study ...
New avocado rootstocks are high-performing and disease-tolerant
Plant pathologists put the squeeze on citrus disease