This is a fascinating story by Hao et al., which takes us from phenotype to novel insights by looking at glandular trichomes in cucumber. Cucumber fruits often have a silica-based white powder deposited on their surface, but this is missing from the yellow green peel (ygp) mutant. Staining shows that…

Wheat is a major global crop, but its yields are severely compromised by drought, thus developing varieties with a higher drought tolerance is important. Emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum) is a wheat ancestor that contains more genetic diversity than cultivated varieties, so it can be used in genome wide…

For many years, biologists argued about whether plants have peptide hormones like animals have, and ever since it was first shown that plant peptides do have hormone-like functions, I’ve said a little cheer as new functions are discovered (Yay plants!). A few years ago, Sonali Roy and colleagues wrote…

Intercropping, the system of growing at least two crops simultaneously, increases crop productivity and ecological sustainability. An intercropping system of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and maize (Zea mays) has been previously found to improve the yield of peanut, specifically its iron nutrition and…

Silicon (Si) plays a significant role in helping plants to mitigate biotic and abiotic stress. Previous studies have shown that the application of Si also influences the microbial communities in the rhizosphere. However, the extent to which Si shapes the dynamics of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria…

Yu et al. conducted a meta-analysis of published 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequenced soil samples to compare the effects of plant-based fertilizers (e.g. compost, seaweed fertilizer) versus animal-based fertilizers (e.g., dung, manure) versus control, unfertilized samples on soil microbial diversity and…