Food and Agricultural Sciences News and Research

Latest Food and Agricultural Sciences News and Research

Tracing Evolutionary Roots of the Genetic Code

Genes are the building blocks of life, and the genetic code provides the instructions for the complex processes that make organisms function.

17 Sep 2025

Soil DNA Reveals Hundreds of Unknown Bacterial Genomes

Most bacteria cannot be cultured in the lab-and that's been bad news for medicine. Many of our frontline antibiotics originated from microbes, yet as antibiotic resistance spreads and drug pipelines run dry, the soil beneath our feet has a vast hidden reservoir of untapped lifesaving compounds.

16 Sep 2025

New Genomic Analysis Platform Launched for Tracking for Zoonotic Pathogens

Zoonotic pathogens, capable of crossing between animals and humans, pose escalating threats due to antimicrobial resistance, genetic diversification, and complex transmission patterns.

11 Sep 2025

Predicting Protein Metal Binding with New Artificial Intelligence Model

Biologists and computational scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory recently refined two artificial intelligence (AI) programs originally built by Meta, the company that owns Facebook, to predict protein shapes.

10 Sep 2025

Discovery of De Novo Genes Sheds Light on Peach Evolution and Traits

The emergence of new genes is a central driver of evolutionary innovation. While mechanisms such as duplication and horizontal gene transfer have been widely studied, de novo gene birth represents a unique pathway where functional genes arise from noncoding DNA.

8 Sep 2025

Ancient Plant Protein Unlocks New Strategy for Engineering Disease-Resistant Crops

Researchers led by Ken Shirasu at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have identified an ancient protein that has the potential to help defend plants against tens of thousands of different bacteria and other pathogens.

5 Sep 2025

Earth BioGenome Project Aims to Build a Digital Library of All Life

From the mighty blue whale to the humble baker’s yeast, scientists have barely begun to understand the vast genetic diversity among lifeforms.

5 Sep 2025

Automated 3D Imaging Uncovers Genetic Markers for Sorghum Leaf Arrangement

By reconstructing 366 sorghum plants from calibrated images, the team showed that automated measurements achieved near-human repeatability and enabled genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to uncover genetic markers linked to leaf orientation.

3 Sep 2025

Genetic Discovery Reveals How Plants Respond to Blue Light and Cold

Plants may be stuck in one place, but the world around them is constantly changing. In order to grow and flower at the right time, plants must constantly collect information about their surroundings, measuring things like temperature, brightness, and length of day.

3 Sep 2025

Cornell Study Reveals Early Genetic Differences Between Male and Female Embryos

Cornell researchers have uncovered the genetic triggers that cause male and female bovine embryos to develop differently, as early as seven to eight days after fertilization.

1 Sep 2025

RNA Binding Proteins and EVs Offer Clues to Cancer's Evasion of Immune Response

Certain types of biochemical processes can impair the immune system's ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. Purdue University's W. Andy Tao and his associates have developed a new way to study these processes.

27 Aug 2025

Machine Learning Model Accounts for Biological Variability in Culture Media Design

Cell culture is a foundational technology widely used across fields such as pharmaceutical production, regenerative medicine, food science, and materials engineering. A critical component of successful cell culture is the culture medium-a solution containing essential nutrients that support cell growth.

21 Aug 2025

Salk Researchers Create First Genetic Atlas to Span the Entire Arabidopsis Life Cycle

Nearly everything you know about plants was first discovered in a plant you've likely never heard of. Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as thale cress, is a small, flowering weed that has shaped much of plant biology as we know it.

20 Aug 2025

New Insights Reveal Bacterial Roots of Key Plant Hormone Enzymes

Terpenoids play vital roles in plant ecology-from repelling pests to attracting pollinators-and are produced by terpene synthases (TPSs) enzymes.

19 Aug 2025

Study Uncovers Genetic Driver of Color Patterns in Saintpaulia Flowers

Flowers, specialized plant structures consisting of colorful petals and green sepals, play a key role in plant propagation.

19 Aug 2025

Microbes Help Shape the Developing Brain Before and After Birth

New research from Michigan State University finds that microbes play an important role in shaping early brain development, specifically in a key brain region that controls stress, social behavior, and vital body functions.

14 Aug 2025

New Research Reveals Link Between Copper Antimicrobials and Antibiotic Resistance

Copper has emerged as a key ally in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Copper sulfate solutions, for example, have been used since the 1700s to combat fungal infections in vineyards, orchards, and a variety of other agricultural contexts.

8 Aug 2025

OLED Materials Have Potential New Uses in Detecting Pesticides for the Farming Industry

Researchers are set to shine a different kind of light on the farming industry after receiving funding to explore how fluorescent materials can detect the presence of pesticides and herbicides in food production.

8 Aug 2025

New Atomic Force Microscopy Reveals Biofilm Architecture

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have reimagined the capabilities of atomic force microscopy, or AFM, transforming it from a tool for imaging nanoscale features into one that also captures large-scale biological architecture.

6 Aug 2025