Tag Archives: plant
Getting health allies from agriculture enemies
In recent years, research in nanotechnologies has demonstrated that nanometer-sized particles constructed using a wide array of materials (e.g. metals, lipids, polymers, proteins) can offer answers to unmet questions concerning drug/vaccine delivery. Ideally, these systems should prevent
Deciphering plant immunity against parasites
A research group at University Bonn uncovers how plants detect and defeat parasitic worms. Nematodes are a huge threat to agriculture since they parasitize important crops such as wheat, soybean, and banana; but plants can defend themselves.
Chloroplast movements after blue light pulses give new insights into the photoreceptor functioning
Plants rely on light as a source of energy. The availability of light is often a limiting factor for the process of photosynthesis. However, too much light can cause cell damage. Plants have numerous mechanisms of adjusting
NOXs, generators of electrochemical energy to drive ion fluxes in humans plants and fungi
What is the connection between the ability of the human immune system to destroy invading pathogens, the growth of a pollen tubule on its way to fertilise a flower’s ovum, and the extension of a fungal hypha
Early land plants evolved a simple but effective mechanism to place stomata away from each other
Stomata are one of the key evolutionary features responsible for the successful colonization of land by plants. A stoma is a pore surrounded by a pair of guard cells, when these cells are turgid and inflated the
Landscapes of jasmonates during flower development and leaf stresses
Hormones are small compounds which regulate many aspects of life, from organ development to environmental adaptations. Jasmonates are plant hormones controlling various biological processes including flower development and defense against insects and fungi. In order to conserve
Acyl-CoA-binding proteins help plants “degrease” adversities
Serving as the building blocks for triacylglycerides and membrane phospholipids, fatty acids are essential in all forms of life. Given their chemical inertness, fatty acids need activation into a more water-soluble form (as acyl-CoA esters), prior to
Challenging nature conservation in a peri-urban area
Constructed wetlands are treatment systems that use natural processes involving wetland vegetation, soils, and their associated microbial assemblages to improve water quality. The Parco Naturale Regionale Molentargius-Saline, located in southern Sardinia between the two cities of Quartu
Bloody stool due to ulcerative colitis during low-carbohydrate weight-loss diet
The prevalence of overweight and obesity is a global concern. Therefore, various weight-loss diets have been developed. A low-carbohydrate weight-loss diet, also known as the Atkins diet, is one such diet. In the United States, the proportion
Does the ethnomedicinal uses of the sour plum tree correlate with its ethnopharmacological properties?
Ximenia caffra Sond. (Fig. 1), commonly referred to as “sour plum” is a common and popular medicinal and fruit tree in the dryland zone in central, eastern and southern Africa. The generic name ‘Ximenia’ commemorates a Spanish
Application of the fungicide kresoxim-methyl prior to drought and salinity stress imposition enhances the ability of plants to survive
Plants are exposed to multiple environmental stresses ( e. g. drought, salinity ), resulting in major yield losses in modern agriculture. Drought and salinity are the two major abiotic threats for plant production and potentially food security.
Why seeds produced by a plant are not the same?
Offspring of any organism, if they are not clones, differ from each other. Seeds produced by a mother plant are no exception, and they vary in size, color and shape. Usually, these differences are minor and represent
Chemical priming: a way to increase plant protection against stress conditions in the field?
Abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, flooding, heat, cold, freezing, excess light, UV radiation and heavy metal toxicity have a significant impact on plant growth and crop yield worldwide. Climate change continues to exacerbate the detrimental effects
Assessing plant responses to gravity may be the key to unlocking Martian agriculture
For humans to become a multi-planetary species, we must first overcome many technological and biological hurdles. The closest two potential sites for extraterrestrial colonization (apart from low Earth orbit) are the Moon and Mars. The Moon exhibits
Invertase effect localized on the cell wall on resistance of potato plants to low temperatures
Low temperature is a determinative environmental factor, which can affect all aspects of plant life and determine their geographical distribution and productivity. According to the response to low temperatures plants are divided into some groups: frost- resistant,
Contamination of newly built thermal plants – does water hold the answer?
A domestic central heating system uses a boiler, powered by electric or gas, to heat water. This is then pumped around the system to radiators that heat a room by radiation and convection. The heat transfer fluid
Advantageous adventitious roots – ecology, economy, and our existence
Plants rely on roots for their supply of nutrients and water but not all roots are the same. Typically when asked to picture a plant root system we might think of the tap root with ‘lateral’ roots
Do plants have brains?
Many organisms have circadian clocks. These internal clocks play essential roles for predicting day-length or seasons, and they regulate behavior and hormonal secretion in animals, and also regulating flowering time and cell elongation in plants. In animals,
How plant virus hides from the host cellular degradation machinery
The main goal of obligatory viral parasites is to create the perfect environment for its multiplication. Therefore, the first step is to avoid degradation by the host cellular degradation. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is not
Harmful algal blooms in the Mar Piccolo: what effect may they have on local mariculture?
More than 70% of the world’s human population lives in the coastal environments and in recent years, population growth and related human activities (agriculture, wastewater treatment plans, urban runoff) have increased nutrient inputs (inorganic fertilizing compounds) in
