News in Brief
Cells can use miRNAs to as a signal for their position within a plant.
Plants use miRNAs to pass signals between cells. But cells can’t just let anything in or out, so how do miRNAs get around?
News in Brief
When is it your time to bloom? For a plant, it’s HISTONE DEACETYLASE 19 and FD that decides
A shoot shouldn’t become a flower too early, but needs some control over when the process happens. A paper in JXB finds the genes responsible.
News in Brief
Stinging plants share needle designs
It’s not just nettles that sting. Plants discovered how to defend themselves multiple times, but whatever building blocks they use, they all share a similar design in needles.
News in Brief
What drives the big changes in evolution, biological interactions or geography?
How did life get so diverse ?in silico modelling of evolution suggests there’s not one specific cause, but a complex interaction including diversity interacting with itself.
News in Brief
To explain relationships in life, you need a ‘Tree of Death’
Phylogenetics seeks to explain the relationships between organisms today, effectively drawing up a phylogeny, like a family tree. That means pulling together information on the past
News in Brief
Hybrids face a battle for dominance of the genome
When two different genomes come together in a hybrid or polyploid, it can trigger conflict in the new genome. A review in New Phytologist investigates how one subgenome can become dominant.
News in Brief
Pest control through conservation is not always a success
Is there a better way to control pests than spraying chemicals? Keeping a non-crop habitat nearby can help shelter predators, but new research shows the correlation between conservation and pest-control isn’t simple.
Close Encounters
Do carnivorous plants warn pollinators of danger?
It was thought that carnivorous plants put their flowers well away from their traps to avoid catching pollinators. Research from Asia suggests that something more complex could be happening.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Variations in climate can cause genetic diversity in plant populations
A new paper in Science highlights how variation in an environment can mean plants have no single solution for survival. Where conditions change, genetic diversity can be the best option for a species.
Plants & People
What is Open Access and why does it matter?
This week we’re posting about papers from AoB PLANTS, an open access journal for plant science, and launching in silico Plants, another open access journal
Plants & People
Headliner Video, a podcast tool that could help botanists produce video
One of the problems botanists have creating social video is a lot of the time the subject is static. Headliner Video is a tool that helps with that problem.
Uncategorized
Why are/aren’t we following you on Twitter?
Who do we follow on Twitter? Here’s why we follow people and why we don’t.