The nightshades, family Solanaceae, are a diverse group of flowering plants within the order Solanales, encompassing approximately 90–100 genera and 2,500–3,000 species, including both herbaceous and woody forms. Members are characterized by typically alternate leaves, actinomorphic pentamerous flowers, and a superior ovary usually forming berries or capsules. Chemically, Solanaceae are notable for producing a variety of alkaloids, such as tropane, steroidal glycoalkaloids, and nicotine, which often have potent neuroactive or toxic properties. The family includes important model organisms and crops (e.g., Solanum, Capsicum, Nicotiana) widely used in plant genetics, physiology, and metabolic pathway research.
Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed a method for creating realistic virtual tomato farms that automatically generate data for training agricultural AI systems. Their approach offers a way to overcome ...
Biotechnology
Jun 1, 2026
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9
Have you ever eaten a green potato, or a bunch of rhubarb leaves? Hopefully not, because these two plant parts can be toxic to humans. While they may seem edible, they contain chemicals that can make you seriously ill.
Molecular & Computational biology
May 26, 2026
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107
Soil-borne fungal pathogens are responsible for major agricultural losses worldwide, yet the way they invade and spread inside plant roots is still not fully understood. One of the most damaging species, Fusarium oxysporum, ...
A CBBL research team led by Professor Balachandran Manavalan from the Department of Integrative Biotechnology at Sungkyunkwan University has developed DeepTYLCV, an accurate and interpretable artificial intelligence model ...
Biotechnology
May 15, 2026
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16
Researchers at the São Carlos Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo (IFSC-USP) in Brazil, led by Paulo Augusto Raymundo-Pereira, have created biodegradable, "wearable" sensors for plants to monitor their health, ...
Biotechnology
May 14, 2026
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9
Can we have higher yields and better taste? Using a natural extract from the fungus Pseudozyma aphidis, this method improves the firmness and natural sugar content of crops like tomatoes and melons while significantly boosting ...
Biotechnology
May 13, 2026
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236
Scientists in Sweden have taken an important step toward fighting potato late blight, a plant disease that once triggered a historic famine in Ireland and now threatens to spread globally due to climate change. A new study ...
Agriculture
Apr 22, 2026
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10
A study investigating microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) in agricultural settings has found they reduced plant growth and entered plant tissues through the soil, raising new concerns about food safety and human exposure. ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 21, 2026
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68
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have demonstrated that tomato mutants lacking the SlIAA9 gene, an auxin signaling repressor involved in the regulation of seed germination, not only retain high germination capacity under ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 17, 2026
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9
Plants are often seen as passive organisms, rooted in one place and largely unable to react to the world around them. But a new field of research is challenging these assumptions and showing that plants are as sophisticated ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 16, 2026
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