Research Blog

Gene conversion, a mechanism involving the unidirectional exchange of DNA from a donor to an acceptor sequence through homologous recombination, is a major driver of genome evolution. It has been speculated that gene conversion may be biased towards GC alleles, and thus favours accumulation of GC in…

Reading books by the light of nanobionic plants sounds like something out of a scifi book. However, scientists have been working for many years on engineering light-emitting plants based on the luciferase enzyme. This work has been limited largely by the need to overcome the toxicity of adding to much…

CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing has rapidly become a powerful tool in modern plant science research.  However, issues of low editing efficiencies and off-target mutations remain.  LeBlanc et al. hypothesised that subjecting plants to high temperature stress, mimicking the optimal operating temperature of…

In future years, climate change may cause significant economic losses to countries worldwide. Consequently, genetic improvement of crops fit for drought-stressed and semi-arid regions is becoming a must. In this review, Crossa et al. assess the advances in genetic selection (GS) and genomic-enabled prediction…

Review.  Genomic selection in plant breeding: Methods, models, and perspectives In future years, climate change may cause significant economic losses to countries worldwide. Consequently, genetic improvement of crops fit for drought-stressed and semi-arid regions is becoming a must. In this review,…

By Jozef Samaj, George Komis, Dominik Novak, Miroslav Ovecka, Olga Samajova Abstract After the establishment of advanced fluorescence microscopy methods and the development of numerous fluorescent proteins it is possible to follow the organization and dynamics of most organelles and subcellular…

All gases in the N cycle, including nitric oxide (NO), are present in oceans, either because of gas exchanges at the air-water interface or because they are produced within oceans themselves. NO, a physiologically important gaseous transmitter, is generated in seawater by nonbiological photochemical…

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of abundant small noncoding RNAs, have been identified as important regulators of gene expression in plants, affecting many aspects of plant development. Recently, several miRNAs have been reported to regulate rice grain yield. A previous study revealed that miR397 regulates…