Plant Biology

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory identified key differences in gene regulation between tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana plants, which could explain challenges in crop engineering. This breakthrough, revealing how mutations affect plant growth and development, highlights the importance of understanding genetic regulation to enhance predictability and efficiency in agriculture. Credit: SciTechDaily.comPlant genomics has come a long way since Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) helped sequence the first plant…

The image shows a high-resolution 3D model of the plant RNA polymerase PEP, which plays a central role in photosynthesis. Credit: Paula Favoretti Vital do Prado and Johannes Pauly / MPI-NAT, UMGResearchers from Hannover and Göttingen have successfully created three-dimensional visualizations of chloroplasts’ copying machines.For the survival of life on Earth, the process where plants perform photosynthesis to generate oxygen and chemical energy using sunlight is crucial. Scientists from Göttingen and Hannover have now…

A groundbreaking study identifies a protein, WEEP, whose absence in weeping trees like the Weeping Peach Tree causes shoots to grow downwards due to altered auxin distribution. The discovery could revolutionize orchard management by enabling closer planting of fruit trees, potentially enhancing productivity and optimizing space.A basic premise of how plants grow is that shoots grow up and roots grow down. A new study, published in Plant Physiology, a leading international society journal published by the American Society…

Recent research has redefined the primary role of Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) from controlling developmental genes to protecting the genome against transposon invasion. This ancestral function, consistent across various eukaryotes, evolved over time, leading to PRC2’s current role in silencing protein-coding genes, particularly in flowering plants like Arabidopsis.The Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), initially identified in Drosophila several decades ago, was found to be a key controller of developmental…