Sulfate helps plants cope with water scarcity

Plants absorb the mineral sulfate from groundwater. An international research team led by scientists from Heidelberg University has uncovered how sulfate controls the production of the drought stress hormone ABA in plants ...

Loss of a microRNA molecule boosts rice production

The wild rice consumed by our Neolithic ancestors was very different from the domesticated rice eaten today. Although it is unclear when humans first started farming rice, the oldest paddy fields—in the lower Yangzi River ...

A crucial gene controls stem juiciness in sorghum and beyond

Perhaps you've never tasted sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), the fifth most popular crop in the world, but you probably will soon. This ancient grain is a common source of food in developing countries and is also used to make Baijiu, ...

How a molecular signal helps plant cells decide when to make oil

A study at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory identifies new details of how a sugar-signaling molecule helps regulate oil production in plant cells. As described in a paper appearing in the journal ...

Summer fun: How plants beat the heat

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan have discovered a gene in plants that helps protect them from excessive heat. Published in the scientific journal Plant Cell, the study shows that ...

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