From flower to fruit: A tug-of-war between growing tissues

Unlike an animal cell, a plant cell can't crawl or migrate. It's locked inside a rigid wall, cemented to its neighbors for life. A cell born at the center of a young fruit will still be there when that fruit ripens.

Dead or alive, plankton support marine ecosystems

As tiny as they are, marine plankton play pivotal roles in biogeochemical cycles and sustaining aquatic ecosystems, producing around half of the oxygen on Earth and also acting as carbon sinks. When they die, their decomposing ...

These bacteria can change their diet to survive inside the body

The human body fights staph infections by starving it of essential nutrients. Staph, it turns out, is remarkably good at changing what's on the menu. Staphylococcus aureus—the infamous agent behind MRSA and most staph infections—needs ...

Local microbes persist in wine despite commercial yeast

A new study has demonstrated that regional microbial imprints can remain detectable under commercial winemaking conditions. The research, appearing in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, shows that inoculated fermentations ...

How seeds decide whether to wake up in salty soil

Researchers have discovered a system that helps seeds survive when there is too much salt in the soil. The system helps young germinating embryos keep the right balance of sodium and potassium as they begin to grow. Understanding ...

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