Entries by Mary Williams

Plant Science Research Weekly: December 20, 2024

When form fits function: the value of root diversity to survival For a plant, form is function. Despite the diversity of forms that exist in nature, plant root diversity is notoriously understudied compared to their aerial counterpart. This review by Ramachandran and Ramirez et al. aims to revitalize the field of root form-function research by […]

Review: Bringing purple tomatoes to market

This interesting article by Cathie Martin and Eugenio Butelli describes the process through which purple, anthocyanin-accumulating tomatoes were brought to the US market, from idea to business plan to regulatory status review and finally direct-to-consumer sales. Although these tomatoes have demonstrated health benefits, the developers had difficulty finding partners who wanted to help commercialize them, […]

Plant Science Research Weekly: December 6, 2024

Review: Bringing purple tomatoes to market This interesting article by Cathie Martin and Eugenio Butelli describes the process through which purple, anthocyanin-accumulating tomatoes were brought to the US market, from idea to business plan to regulatory status review and finally direct-to-consumer sales. Although these tomatoes have demonstrated health benefits, the developers had difficulty finding partners […]

Spotlight: The role of fossils for reconstructing the evolution of plant development

I suspect if we asked someone to describe a fossil we’d hear a lot about dinosaur bones. Certainly, science museums are full of fossilized animal remains, which have greatly informed our understanding of animal evolution. Plant fossils similarly are rich sources of information about plant evolution and evolutionary development (evo-devo), as highlighted here by Hetherington. […]

Perspective: Enzymatic routes to designer hemicelluloses for use in biobased materials

This article poses the interesting question of whether we can use our knowledge of plant cell wall-modifying, carbohydrate-active enzymes to produce biobased materials. Specifically, the authors point out that much of the hemicellulose contained in agricultural and wood fiber could provide a starting point for making useful products such as aerogels, films, and coatings. Compared […]

Review: Cracking the plant VOC sensing code and its practical applications

Many studies have demonstrated the importance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in communication between plants. VOCs emitted by a plant damaged by herbivory promote defenses in nearby plants. It is thought that these compounds may have originated as intra-plant signals, capable of moving long-distances faster than signals through the plant vascular system, with the inter-plant […]

Review. Decoding resilience: Ecology, regulation, and evolution of biosynthetic gene clusters

Although clusters of functionally related genes are common in prokaryotes, until recently it was thought that they were not a feature of eukaryotic genomes. However, several studies have identified biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in plants. Many of these gene clusters include sets of enzymes that act sequentially in the production of specialized metabolites, such as […]