Poaceae is a large monocotyledonous plant family encompassing the true grasses, characterized by herbaceous, often culm-forming stems with hollow internodes, leaves composed of sheaths, ligules, and linear blades, and a distinctive inflorescence of spikelets bearing reduced, wind-pollinated florets. Flowers are typically subtended by glumes and lemmas, with lodicules facilitating anthesis, and produce single-seeded dry fruits (caryopses) in which the seed coat is fused to the pericarp. Poaceae exhibits C3, C4, and intermediate photosynthetic pathways, occupies diverse terrestrial habitats worldwide, and plays central roles in primary productivity, biogeochemical cycling, and the evolution of grass-dominated ecosystems.
Researchers from the University of Oxford, Nanjing Agricultural University, and Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (Chinese Academy of Sciences) have finally identified the master regulator in plants that balances ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 26, 2026
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In 2013, farmers in the highlands of Ethiopia began to notice something unsettling: a familiar variety of wheat was failing in an unfamiliar way. Stems weakened, plants collapsed, and fields that had once held firm against ...
Biotechnology
Feb 23, 2026
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52
Plants have an immune system, like people, and when it is triggered by threats like disease or pests, a plant's defenses are activated. But there's a downside to this protective mechanism: the plant's growth is suppressed ...
Biotechnology
Feb 23, 2026
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29
An evolutionary "arms race" for light and space led to the early domestication of wheat, according to new research that could offer fresh insights into crop design. The study led by Dr. Yixiang Shan and Professor Colin Osborne, ...
Evolution
Feb 20, 2026
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A new Perspective article from an SDSU researcher advocates improving wheat and other staple foods through agricultural techniques, making the food people love to eat healthier. Ali Parsaeimehr, assistant research professor ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 18, 2026
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20
New research shows that short periods of extreme heat and drought during flowering could become one of the biggest threats to global wheat production in the coming decades. As the climate changes, farmers around the world ...
Ecology
Feb 17, 2026
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Brazilian researchers have developed a methodology that uses remote sensing to map the impact of frost on corn crops. This reduces exposure to climate risks and uncertainty regarding agricultural losses.
Agriculture
Feb 16, 2026
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20
In 1532, in the city of Cajamarca, Peru, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro and a group of Europeans took the Inca ruler Atahualpa hostage, setting the stage for the fall of the Inca Empire.
Ecology
Feb 15, 2026
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46
Turfgrass found on golf courses, athletic fields and lawns is susceptible to a fungal pathogen known as dollar spot disease, which is characterized by the appearance of circular spots of dead turf about the size of a silver ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 12, 2026
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11
A decade-long study has revealed that rising atmospheric CO₂ and warming work together to reduce the availability of phosphorus in rice-upland crop rotation systems, potentially threatening future food security. The research, ...
Agriculture
Feb 11, 2026
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