Many algae and plant species contain photosynthetic membrane-bound organelles called plastids that are actually remnants of a free-living cyanobacterium. At some point in evolutionary history, a cyanobacterium was engulfed ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 19, 2020
0
13
The virus that causes barley yellow dwarf, the most widespread disease of cereal crops, manipulates its host plant and insect vector to promote its own survival, according to an international team of researchers. The group ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 10, 2020
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40
Scientists at UC Davis have used CRISPR technology to genetically engineer rice with high levels of beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A. The technique they used provides a promising strategy for genetically improving ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 5, 2020
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103
Aphids, small sap-sucking insects, are virus carriers responsible for significant economic losses in many crops worldwide. Many aphids form symbiotic and mutualistic relationships with viruses, an aspect of plant disease ...
Biotechnology
Feb 3, 2020
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7
During visits to fields in Assam, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, India, plant biologists Muthappa Senthil-Kumar and Urooj Fatima found mustard plants infested with Alternaria blight disease. They also noticed that an adjacent ...
Biotechnology
Jan 29, 2020
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5
Parasitic weeds are among the world's most economically damaging agricultural pests. They use an organ called the haustorium to build connections with host plants and draw nutrients from them.
Ecology
Jan 15, 2020
0
6
A parasitic plant has found a way to circumvent an evolutionary arms race with the host plants from which it steals nutrients, allowing the parasite to thrive on a variety of agriculturally important plants. The parasite ...
Evolution
Dec 17, 2019
0
110
When a plant senses an invading pathogen, it activates a molecular signaling cascade that switch on its defense mechanisms. One such mechanism involves sacrificing host cells to the pathogen. This is a tightly controlled ...
Biotechnology
Dec 6, 2019
0
7
The genome of the parasitic plant Striga, commonly known as witchweed, has been sequenced for the first time by RIKEN plant geneticists. This genetic analysis both offers insights into how parasitic plants evolved and a tool ...
Biotechnology
Dec 6, 2019
0
5
Tatarinow's aster is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a number of ailments; the plant contains an active ingredient known as astin—and it is this agent which cancer researchers are now investigating. However, ...
Biotechnology
Dec 3, 2019
0
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