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.
Category - News in Brief
Dale Maylea
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.
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.
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 history of a group, and so botanists...
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.
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.
