The DER1 (deformed root hairs1) locus encodes a major vegetative actin (ACTIN2) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Mutations in DER1 lead to impaired root hair development. However, the role of this gene in overall plant...
Tag - microscopy
Alex Assiry
Researching Pollen Illuminating the Invisible
For many people, pollen means nose itching and eyes watering - but it is so much more. It is the reason we have food on our plates, and flowers around us. When pollen forms abnormally or degenerates, it is unable to...
Alison Tidy
Exploring fungus-plant N transfer in a tripartite ant–plant–fungi mutualism
This study provides insight into the possibly important nutritional aspects and tradeoffs involved in myrmecophyte–ant mutualisms.
botanyone
Snow addition and warming impacts on arctic leaf anatomy and gas exchange
Climatic changes can result in modified leaf anatomy and gas exchange in arctic plants. In a one-year-old field experiment in Greenland, Schollert et al. investigate the effects of increased snow depth and warming on...
The 21st century Prometheus
The full title of Mary Shelley’s acclaimed 1818 novel “Frankenstein” is “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus”. Well, fictional frightening-fellow fabricator Dr Frankenstein may have been the modern Prometheus of his...
Nigel Chaffey
A short post in which we avoid the STAR WARS hype to look at leaves and lasers
Obviously this weekend the news will be about the release of the new STAR WARS film. If you're looking for an escape from this, or are just waiting in a very long queue, then here's a YouTube film on microscopy in...
Alun Salt
Evolution shaped the internal beauty of plants
As plants embraced the terrestrial lifestyle, they underwent a range of adaptations to increase their size and stature as well as to facilitate transport of water and/or solutes. These vegetative innovations, which...
Oliver Leroux
Can’t see the tissues for the tetrapyrroles?
How can you view plant tissues without slipping them a mickey?
Leeuwenhoek whine a stinker…
I’ve long had great respect and admiration for those pioneers of microscopy. Men – for such was the case in those ‘good old days’ – such as Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Robert Hooke and Nehemiah Grew whose inquiry and...
