Scientists engineer novel DNA barcode

Much like the checkout clerk uses a machine that scans the barcodes on packages to identify what customers bought at the store, scientists use powerful microscopes and their own kinds of barcodes to help them identify various ...

A greener way to raise cotton and combat nematodes

(Phys.org) -- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are using molecular tools to help cotton growers cut back on their use of pesticides in controlling one of their worst adversaries: the root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne ...

Keeping the green in putting greens

When a patch of unwanted grass discolors a putting green, it can cause headaches for golf course managers and for the sod farmers who supply them. But a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has developed a tool ...

The need for speed

Coherent Raman scattering methods have one key advantage over spontaneous Raman microscopy: speed. The (sub-)microsecond pixel dwell times offered by narrowband CRS imaging methods have initiated a new era of chemical imaging ...

Precise molecular surgery in the plant genome

Crop plants have always been adapted to the needs of man by breeding for them to carry more fruit, survive droughts, or resist pests. Green biotechnology now adds new tools to the classical breeding methods for a more rapid ...

A new approach to molecular plant breeding

(Phys.org) -- A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has shown researchers and plant breeders a better way to handle the massive amounts of data being generated by plant molecular studies, using an approach that ...

California native-plant classic gets a 21st-century makeover

Thanks to new molecular-genetic tools and intensive field research, scientists’ understanding of the native flora of the Golden State -- one of the world’s hotspots of botanical diversity -- has grown exponentially ...

A better test for a potato pest

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has created a new weapon in the war being waged against the potato cyst nematode-a diagnostic test that identifies the type of nematode infesting a grower's field.

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