Life on Earth runs on a 24-hour cycle as the planet turns. Animals and plants have built-in circadian clocks that synchronize metabolism and behavior to this daily cycle. But one beetle is out of sync with the rest of nature.
Plants & Animals
Jan 18, 2024
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78
New research led by the University of Oxford indicates that human domestication of crops can alter the communities of microorganisms that are associated with plants. Intriguingly, independent domestication events were found ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 16, 2024
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51
Scientists have engineered the microbiome of plants for the first time, boosting the prevalence of 'good' bacteria that protect the plant from disease. The findings published in Nature Communications by researchers from the ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 4, 2024
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196
Plants often develop communities with microorganisms in their roots, which influences plant health and development. Although the recruitment of these microbes is dictated by several factors, it is unclear whether the genetic ...
Ecology
Dec 19, 2023
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205
Using a novel experimental approach, Max Planck researchers have discovered a core set of genes required by commensal bacteria to colonize their plant hosts. The findings published in Nature Communications may have broad ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 19, 2023
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7
New research fueled in part by citizen scientists reveals that the meadow spittlebug—known for the foamy, spit-like urine released by its nymphs—can feed on at least 1,300 species of host plants, more than twice the number ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 4, 2023
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30
If you happen to come across plants of the Balanophoraceae family in a corner of a forest, you might easily mistake them for fungi growing around tree roots. Their mushroom-like structures are actually inflorescences, composed ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 21, 2023
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271
Mold and diseases caused by fungi can greatly impact the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. However, some fungi benefit their hosts by aiding plant survival. Colletotrichum tofieldiae (Ct) is a root mold that typically supports ...
Ecology
Sep 6, 2023
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87
Genetic variation is the ultimate fuel for evolution, says Utah State University evolutionary geneticist Zachariah Gompert. But, over centuries, that fuel reservoir gets depleted in the course of natural selection and random ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 12, 2023
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306
About 100 million years ago, a group of trendsetting moths started flying during the day rather than at night, taking advantage of nectar-rich flowers that had co-evolved with bees. This single event led to the evolution ...
Plants & Animals
May 15, 2023
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