Recent Posts

Reduction of stomatal density by STOMAGEN paralog editing

Climate change is having negative effects on yield of economically important crops such as rice. Therefore, there is a pressing need for climate-change adapted crops. Previous research has highlighted that a decrease in stomatal density can enhance drought tolerance. EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTOR-LIKE9…

Hydraulic trade-offs underlie enhanced performance of polyploid trees under soil water deficit

The (apparently delicious) fruit called atemoya is produced from a hybrid of Annona squamosa (sugar apple) × Annona cherimola (cherimoya), native to the American tropics but now grown widely. The hybridization event led to plants with several ploidies; diploid, triploid and tetraploid, which serve as…

A fresh mechanism for drought tolerance in apple

Niu, Jiang, Cao et al. discover the role of a ferredoxin-NADP+ oxidoreductase gene in drought tolerance in apple. Background: Global climate change and rapid population growth have been increasing the shortage of water resources, enhancing the effects of natural disasters such as drought. Drought…