Mildew-resistant and infertile

Two proteins involved in powdery mildew infection in plants also play an important role in fertilization.

Fertility or powdery mildew resistance?

Powdery mildew is a fungus that infects both crop and ornamental plants. Each year, powdery mildew and other plant pathogens cause immense crop loss. Despite decades of intense research, little is known of the plant molecules ...

Calcium and reproduction go together

Everyone's heard of the birds and the bees. But that old expression leaves out the flowers that are being fertilized. The fertilization process for flowering plants is particularly complex and requires extensive communication ...

How plants choose their mates and repel other suitors

A group of scientists from Nagoya University in Japan has used a specialized microscopic technique to observe the internal reproduction process of the Arabidopsis plant. Their findings, published in EMBO Reports, reveal the ...

Microchip proves tightness provokes precocious sperm release

Sperm cell release can be triggered by tightening the grip around the delivery organ, according to a team of nano and microsystems engineers and plant biologists at the University of Montreal and Concordia University.

No need to fertilize, for increase in seed sizeĀ”

Plant biologists at ITbM have made a key discovery that the contents in pollen tubes alone can increase the size of seeds, without the need for fertilization. This finding may be useful in developing crops, which can develop ...

Sex in plants requires thrust

In a paper to be published in the September 2018 issue of TECHNOLOGY, the thrust produced by the microscopic organ delivering sperm cells in plants has now been measured using microfluidic technology. A team of nano and microsystems ...

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