The carnivorous plant lifestyle is gene costly

Plants can produce energy-rich biomass with the help of light, water and carbon dioxide. This is why they are at the beginning of the food chains. But carnivorous plants have turned the tables and prey on animals. Insects ...

Plants defend their territory with toxic substances

Plants are stakeholders in a subtle and complex chemical warfare to secure optimal growth conditions. Although it has been known for decades that plants produce and release chemical substances to fight their neighbors, it ...

A corny turn for biofuels from switchgrass

Many experts believe that advanced biofuels made from cellulosic biomass are the most promising alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels for a renewable, clean, green, domestic source of transportation energy. Nature, ...

Engineered tobacco plants have more potential as a biofuel

Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University have identified a way to increase the oil in tobacco plant leaves, which may be the next step in using the plants for biofuel. Their ...

Plant engineered for more efficient photosynthesis

(Phys.org) —A genetically engineered tobacco plant, developed with two genes from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), holds promise for improving the yields of many food crops.

Seeds inherit memories from their mother

Seeds remain in a dormant state, a temporary blockage of their germination, as long as environmental conditions are not ideal for germination. The depth of this dormancy, which is influenced by various factors, is inherited ...

Plants and caterpillars make the same cyanide

(PhysOrg.com) -- With an amazing example of convergent evolution, Niels Bjerg Jensen of the University of Copenhagen published a report in Nature Communications discussing the bird's-foot trefoil plant and the burnet moth ...

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