Growth & Development
Maize is better when it’s hairy
Root hairs help maize take up phosphorus from the soil.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
CIPK9 regulates ammonium-dependent root growth in rice
What interacts with IDD10 to manage ammonium uptake in rice? New research points to CIPK9.
Close Encounters
Hybrids may succeed where invasive species fail as sea levels rise
Invasive species might suffer from a change in conditions in tidal areas, but their hybrid offspring may have genes to survive.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Wild tomatoes have the genes to partner with fungi
Foraging for nutrients is easier when something else does it for you, but how can tomatoes better attract a partner?
Close Encounters
Wild relatives of beans retain useful drought resistance
A new study of wild crop relatives of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) finds they retain useful adaptations to drought stress.
Taxonomy & Evolution
Identifying the biodiversity of the Mayan underworld
In the caves of Quintana Roo, there are not only stalactites hanging from the ceiling. There are tree roots too, but the roots of which trees?
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Root growth and plant height connected to an auxin-related gene
What makes a plant tall? Scientists think it may be connected to a gene involved in responding to the hormone Auxin.
Growth & Development
The bzh root system reacts highly economically when N is scarce
In oilseed rape (Brassica napus) bzh dwarf plants have improved nitrogen (N) uptake, N-utilization and N-use efficiency compared to normal types. Is this due to their shoots, or do roots play a role?
Cells, Genes & Molecules
How important is meat to a curious carnivorous plant?
Drosophyllum lusitanicum, also known as the Portuguese sundew or dewy pine, is unusual even for carnivorous plants in that it lives in dry environments. Typically, carnivorous plants live in nutrient-poor wetlands, so does it really gain much from carnivory?
Taxonomy & Evolution
The future will be short
…as in not tall, rather than apocalyptic.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
A new molecular mechanism reveals how plants keep their cool
How do plants adjust their body plan to cope with high-temperature stress?
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Strigolactones interact with other plant hormones in many situations
Strigolactones are interesting phytohormones in their own right, but Luke Omoarelojie and colleagues say we should be looking at cross-talk with other hormones too.