Review: Biotechnological advances for restoring degraded land for sustainable development ($)
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One of the challenges of future food security is to feed a growing population without further impinging on undisturbed ecosystems, which is a primary goal of efforts to increase yields. At the other end of the equation, Tripathi et al. address opportunities to recover degraded lands for sustainable development.…
Ethnophytotechnology: Harnessing the power of ethnobotany with biotechnology ($)
Blog, Plant Science Research Weekly, Research, Research BlogDe la Parra and Quave describe the fascinating intersection of ethnobotany and biotechnology, which they define as ethnophytotechnology: “the use of plant biotechnology to improve or enhance the inherent economic or culturally valuable traits of plants as described and influenced by ethnobotany". They…
Efficient Plastid Transformation in Arabidopsis
Blog, Plant Physiology, Plant Physiology: On The Inside, Research, Research BlogThe plastid genome of higher plants encodes about 100 genes, the products of which assemble with approximately 3,000 nucleus-encoded proteins to form the plastid transcription and translation machinery and carry out complex metabolic functions, including photosynthesis and fatty acid and amino acid biosynthesis.…
Metabolic engineering of anthocyanin and betalain pigments for health and aesthetics: Purple rice, blue chrysanthemums and violet tomatoes
Blog, Plant Science Research Weekly, Research, Research BlogPigment engineering was featured in three recent papers. Anthocyanins are blue pigments valued for their antioxidant health benefits and for their beauty, but their biosynthesis and chemistry is complex. Noda et al. introduced two genes to produce blue anthocyanins in chrysanthemum petals (Sci Advances…
Flowering time in banana (Musa spp.), a day neutral plant, is controlled by at least three FLOWERING LOCUS T homologues
Blog, Plant Science Research Weekly, Research, Research BlogFlowering time is regulated by FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), its paralog TWIN SISTER OF FT (TSF), and related proteins. Banana (Musa spp.) is an economically-important day-neutral plant with a months-long vegetative phase prior to flowering. The banana cultivar Grand Nain has 14 FT/TSF-like genes spread…
A Key Enzyme in the Biosynthesis of a Plant-Derived anti-HIV Drug
Plant Physiology, Plant Physiology: On The Inside, Research, Research BlogRhododendron dauricum (Ericaceae), a native of northeastern Asia, produces unique secondary metabolites including daurichromenic acid (DCA). DCA has attracted considerable attention as a medicinal resource because this compound is one of the most effective natural products with anti-HIV properties in…
A Taste of CRISPR
GPC BlogThis week’s blog was written by Dr Craig Cormick, the Creative Director of ThinkOutsideThe. He is one of Australia’s leading science communicators, with over 30 years’ experience working with agencies such as CSIRO, Questacon and Federal Government Departments.
So what do you think…
Speed breeding: a powerful tool to accelerate crop research and breeding
Plant Science Research WeeklyWatson and Ghosh et al. describe protocols to accelerate the lifecycle of several crop species using "speed breeding", which essentially involves extending the daylength to 22 hours with supplemental lighting. They describe methods and results from glasshouse and growth chamber speed breeding. In spite…
The sequences of 1,504 mutants in the model rice variety Kitaake facilitate rapid functional genomic studies
Plant Science Research Weekly, ResearchLi et al. describe an important new genetic resource, a huge database of Kitaake rice mutants. Kitaake is a short-generation variety of Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica well suited for genetic studies. The authors sequenced more than 1500 fast-neutron-induced mutants and identified more than 91,000 mutations…