The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany 21
We send out a weekly email on Monday mornings. Here’s the one we sent Monday, October 30, 2017.
annals-of-botany
A transcriptome-based model for colour change in Lotus and emergence of bird pollination
Post-anthesis colour change (PACC) is widespread in the angiosperms. Yet we know little about how this trait operates at the molecular level. By comparing the
AoB PLANTS
Evolution of pollination systems involving edible trichomes in orchids
Edible trichomes have been recorded in several plant families. However, food hairs have not been recorded among the Catasetinae, a subtribe of Orchidaceae. In a recent
annals-of-botany
Suppression of Brassica fungal pathogens by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
Novel forms of potentially antifungal linear fengycins may serve as a basis for the development of more powerful plant protective agents.
Plant Cuttings
A new angle on enhancing crop yield
For sunflowers a friend is not someone you can lean on – as Nigel Chaffey finds out.
featured
Hallowe’en and the Monster Plant
This week, the biggest flower on the planet, also known as the “Queen of all Parasitic Plants”, has come to Oxford – but not in the way you would might expect.
annals-of-botany
Biogeographic pattern analysis using chloroplast genome SNP mining
Not only is the pool-seq method remarkably accurate in measuring SNP frequencies but it can also reveal new information that biogeographic studies of plant distributions cannot, namely data on the relative amount of effective dispersal across geographic barriers.
Reviews
The Plant Messiah by Carlos Magdalena
If you’re looking to explain to someone how botany can be exciting, then The Plant Messiah by Carlos Magdalena is an excellent place to start.
annals-of-botany
Egg activation and actin-myosin dependent elongation of the Dictyota zygote
Male gametes need only 1 min to find the egg, fuse, induce homogenous cell wall secretion and start showing adhesive properties, underlying the role of the ECM as a fast sperm block in D. dichotoma.
annals-of-botany
Temperature variability and wheat quality
Increased hot and cold spells resulting from climate change could affect bread-making quality or seed quality for growing subsequent wheat crops, depending upon when they occur.
AoB PLANTS
Plant biotic interactions and fitness in habitat edges
Habitat variations influence the richness and composition of insect guilds. This affects plant reproduction, which depends upon functional relationships with insects involving both pollination and predation.
annals-of-botany
Floral scent variation in woodland stars
Reproductive traits important to coevolving interactions, such as the floral scent of L. bolanderi, may be more canalized than other traits important for plant fitness.