Potato News and Research

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Small Genetic Element Identified as Key to Potato Industry's Production Problem

Researchers have discovered a game changer for the potato industry.

12 Mar 2024

Using Genetics and Linguistics to Reconstruct the Legacy of Chile’s Largest Indigenous Community

How do today's indigenous communities of South America trace back to the history of human migration and contact in the continent?

6 Jun 2023

Cytoelectric Coupling: Electrical Fields Influence Physical Configuration of Neurons' Sub-Cellular Components

To produce its many functions, including thought, the brain works at many scales. Information such as goals or images is represented by coordinated electrical activity among networks of neurons, while within and around each neuron a mix of proteins and other chemicals physically carries out the mechanics of participating in the network.

23 May 2023

Wrap-and-plant method effective in reducing post-harvest loss of yam crops

Wrapping yam seeds in biodegradable paper made from a mixture of unusable parts of banana plants and recycled cardboard boxes sharply increased yam size and yields in field tests conducted in Benin, Africa.

22 Feb 2023

Betalain-tomatoes confer anti-inflammatory effects against macrophages and murine colitis

Metabolic engineering is a field of plant biotechnology that seeks to genetically modify plant metabolic pathways to generate plant varieties with improved health benefits.

17 Feb 2023

Importance of drying temperature in the technological properties of OSPF

Orange, starchy sweet potatoes are great mashed, cut into fries or just roasted whole. But you likely haven't considered grinding them into a flour and baking them into your next batch of cookies -; or at least, not yet!

14 Feb 2023

Researchers discover new type of pathogenic fungus that infects potatoes

RUDN University biologists have discovered a new type of pathogenic fungus that infects potatoes and leads to massive crop loss.

31 Jan 2023

Valorization of industrial food processing waste to produce value added products

There is money to be made – and potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – by finding a second life for the potato peels, fried dough particles, cheese whey and other industrial food-processing waste products that routinely end up in landfills, according to new research.

27 Jan 2023

Discovery and characterization of a new antifungal compound

Antimicrobial resistance has prompted scientists to search for novel compounds everywhere. A multinational group of European scientists reports the discovery of solanimycin, a novel antifungal antibiotic.

12 Oct 2022

Breadfruit cultivation shows potential to contribute to climate-resilient food systems

In the face of climate change, breadfruit soon might come to a dinner plate near you.

18 Aug 2022

Exploring options to improve soil health for crops growing belowground

Minimizing soil disturbance is one of the key tenets promoted to build soil health in agricultural systems.

2 Aug 2022

Researchers use gene-editing in tomatoes to boost vitamin D content

Researchers employed gene editing to switch off a specific component in the tomato plant’s DNA, which led to an increase in provitamin D3 in both the fruit and leaves. After that, UVB light was used to convert it to vitamin D3.

27 May 2022

Researchers finally discover the structure of plant protein NPR1

A phone call, according to biologist Xinnian Dong, was her “best Christmas gift ever.” Pei Zhou, a longstanding friend, and partner at Duke University called with some exciting news: they had finally discovered the structure of the plant protein NPR1.

18 May 2022

A new breakthrough in the quest to improve photosynthesis in certain crops

A Cornell University study describes a breakthrough in the quest to improve photosynthesis in certain crops, a step toward adapting plants to rapid climate changes and increasing yields to feed a projected 9 billion people by 2050.

19 Apr 2022

Researchers decode complex potato genomes to accelerate the breeding of robust varieties

Scientists have decoded the highly complicated genome of the potato for the first time after over 20 years since the first release of the human genome.

From The Max Planck Institute 7 Mar 2022

Study reveals physico-chemical nature of xylem barriers that confer bacterial wilt resistance

A new work led by Núria Sánchez Coll, CSIC researcher at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics, elucidates how tomato plant varieties resistant to the bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum have the ability to restrict bacterial movement in the plant.

17 Feb 2022

Russian biologists identify dangerous strains of pathogenic fungi that cause diseases in potatoes

Russian biologists have studied strains of the plant pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani, which causes diseases in potatoes and other plants.

20 Jan 2022

Researchers create a healthier form of starch in the cassava plant

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have recently created a healthier form of starch in the cassava plant. Published in the scientific journal Plant Molecular Biology, the study shows how reducing levels of starch branching enzymes (SBEs) in cassava plants changes the composition of tapioca starch, making it more resistant to digestion and healthier for us to eat.

17 Dec 2021

UAB expert shares the science of how to make a delicious Thanksgiving meal

Thanksgiving is a time when many Americans pull out their boxes of recipes from generations of family members, but one thing that may not be included in your grandmother's turkey stuffing -; or dressing -; recipe is what happens at a molecular level to make it worth gobbling up.

29 Nov 2021

Incorporating RNA-inspired breaking points to reduce plastic pollution

Once plastic products are used and discarded, they can linger in oceans, collecting in large "garbage patches" and harming sea life. One potential solution, a biodegradable polymer called polylactide (PLA), has so far not fully lived up to its promise, showing little sign of breakdown once in seawater.

21 Oct 2021