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Understanding how tiny organisms thrive after wildfires

UC Riverside researchers have identified tiny organisms that not only survive but thrive during the first year after a wildfire. The findings could help bring land back to life after fires that are increasing in both size and severity.

8 Feb 2023

Countering climate change with nanowires produced by bacteria

Rapid climate change poses a serious and immediate threat to life on Earth. As atmospheric methane traps heat 30 times more effectively than CO2, temperatures are rising as a result.

3 Feb 2023

Exploring how plants can adapt to accelerating aridity due to climate change

At a time when climate change is making many areas of the planet hotter and drier, it's sobering to think that deserts are relatively new biomes that have grown considerably over the past 30 million years.

1 Feb 2023

Learning about cellular proteins through “snapshots” of translation

Pep-tRNAs, nascent polypeptides inside the ribosome that are covalently connected to transfer RNA, are engaged in a variety of cell processes, including gene expression, according to advances in molecular biology.

1 Feb 2023

Understanding the biochemical, ecological and physiological plant responses to heat and drought

The team of international scientists suggest that it is critical to understand the biochemical, ecological and physiological responses on plants to the stresses of heat and drought in order for more practical solutions and management.

25 Jan 2023

How do methanogens grow on toxic sulfite?

Methanogens are microbes that produce methane when there is little or no oxygen in their surroundings.

From The Max Planck Institute 20 Jan 2023

Breeding climate-proof crops aided by exotic wheat DNA

Research from the Earlham Institute in Norwich, in partnership with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), provides much-needed hope for enhancing crop resilience and food security in the face of climate change following a year in which temperature records have been broken.

11 Jan 2023

Designing plants through more-sophisticated genetic editing

Genetic manipulation was used by humans for millennia, long before they worked in lab coats Selective breeding has been employed for a very long time to produce plants and animals of great value, from adorable dogs to palatable fruit.

From The University of Western Australia 11 Jan 2023

Broccoli heads can resemble cauliflower when grown in higher temperatures

As seasoned gardeners know, broccoli heads don't develop properly and can resemble cauliflower when grown in higher temperatures.

10 Jan 2023

Performing grafting and mobile CRISPR for genome editing in plants

An innovative twist to the CRISPR tool—also known as “genetic scissors”—is being utilized to edit plant genomes by researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, signaling a methodology change.

4 Jan 2023

Right solvent pretreatment needed to make valuable bioproducts

Lignin and cellulose are polymers-;large molecules made up of repeating modules-;that are situated in a tangled braid, along with some other polymers, within the plant cell wall.

15 Dec 2022

Adaptation to climate change in plants aided by epigenetic memories

Animals are able to quickly adapt to changing environmental conditions and survive. There is growing evidence that plants can, too.

21 Nov 2022

Role of hormones and their receptors in the plant stress response

Crops are frequently subjected to unfavorable growing conditions. Disease, severe temperatures, and saline soils, for example, cause plants to utilize energy to adapt to stress rather than for development.

18 Oct 2022

Drug discovery method facilitates promising treatment approaches for metabolic diseases

The body’s chemical processes known as “metabolism” produce the raw materials needed for development and general health.

17 Oct 2022

Spores integrate environmental signals over time

When exposed to starvation and stress, certain bacteria enter a dormant state in which life functions cease. These cells, known as spores, can resist punishing extremes of heat, pressure, and even the extreme conditions of outer space by entering a profound hibernation.

7 Oct 2022

Multi-institutional project aims to deepen the understanding of a versatile bioenergy crop

Principal Investigator, Andrea Eveland, Ph.D., associate member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, will lead a multi-institutional project to deepen the understanding of sorghum, a versatile bioenergy crop, and its response to drought.

6 Oct 2022

Researchers use zebrafish larvae to study how the brain reacts to warmer temperatures

Which organisms survive and which succumb when the climate changes? A small larval fish is providing surprising insight into how the brain reacts when the temperature rises.

30 Sep 2022

Discovery of genes lending tolerance to sugarcane from pests, cold, and drought

Saccharum spontaneum, a species of wild sugarcane with exceptional resistance to biotic stresses like nematodes, fungi, bacteria, and other pests and diseases, as well as abiotic stresses like cold, drought, salinity, and nutritionally deficient soil, was the subject of a study at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil.

28 Sep 2022

Chemical compounds play a pivotal role in host selection behaviors

A team of researchers headed by UC Riverside found that the combination of carbon dioxide and two chemicals—2-ketoglutaric and lactic acids—evokes a scent that kindles the mosquito to trace and land on its victim.

22 Sep 2022

Insects are more susceptible to global warming than previously thought

Insects have weak ability to adjust their thermal limits to high temperatures and are thus more susceptible to global warming than previously thought.

13 Sep 2022