All Soil & Plant Science articles – Page 16
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News
Microbes’ climate adaptation can slow down global warming
A new study shows that the ability of microorganisms to adapt to climate warming will slow down global warming by storing carbon in soil.
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Rapid platform uses plant sentinel response to detect foodborne pathogens
Scientists are developing a platform that images plant sentinel response in produce such as lettuce and spinach to detect foodborne pathogenic bacteria in three to six hours.
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Endophytes colonize and protect coffee seedlings
Fungi found living within the tissue of plants from old growth forests in Costa Rica can colonize coffee seedlings and protect them from disease, a new study has revealed.
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Traditional medicine plant could combat drug-resistant malaria
Researchers have identified compounds in the leaves of a particular medicinal Labrador tea plant used throughout the First Nations of Nunavik, Canada, and demonstrated that one of them has activity against the parasite responsible for malaria.
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News
Tobacco plant engineered to act as drug factory
Researchers have engineered a close relative of tobacco, Nicotiana benthamiana, to churn out peptides with antibiotic activity against some of the nastiest pathogens known to medicine.
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Scientists ID microbes that associate with oilcane
Researchers have identified the types of microbes that associate with engineered oilcane, opening the way to new opportunities to leverage plant-microbial interactions in these feedstocks, which could increase oil yields for sustainable bioenergy production.
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Rampant fungus threatens banana trade in Africa
Researchers have warned that Fusarium wilt TR4 appears to be spreading uncontrollably in Mozambique and immediate action is needed.
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Beneficial bacteria lured by siren call of plant hormones
Scientists have discovered a bacterium carrying a receptor protein that allows it to migrate towards auxins in its plant host, which act as bacterial signalling molecules.
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Fungal diseases threaten global food security
Scientists have warned of the “devastating” impact that fungal disease in crops will have on global food supply unless agencies across the world come together to find new ways to combat infection.
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Predatory soil protists may boost PGPB activity
Bacterivorous soil protists may regulate the activity of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB), boosting plant growth even further, according to a new study.
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AI-powered system diagnoses tomato leaf diseases
Researchers have developed an innovative deep learning architecture to accurately distinguish between different tomato leaf diseases.
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Unraveling the secret microbial power within medicinal plants
A new review uncovers how medicinal plants interact with their endophytes at a molecular and metabolic level - and examines the potential of these endophytes for use in therapeutics.
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Features
Oomycete research in the mangroves of The Philippines
Continuing the legacy of oomycete research in The Philippines in the search for new species, novel sources of fatty acids and natural products.
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News
Red clover losses in forage mixtures are linked to soil pathogens - and how far south they are
Losses in red clover plant numbers within forage mixtures in the years after they are sown are not only connected to fungal pathogens in the soil, but also how far south they are grown, with implications for how climate change could affect livestock farms, a new study has found.
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Increased droughts are disrupting carbon-capturing soil microbes
Soil health and future greenhouse gas levels could be impacted if soil microbes adapt to drought faster than plants do.
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Genomic surveillance may track evolution of emerging wheat disease fungus
Genomic surveillance may be an effective disease management tool against the wheat blast pandemic, with the ability to trace lineages of emerging crop diseases, and to identify genetic traits for breeding disease-resistant lines, a study suggests.
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Bumblebee superfood battles gut pathogen - and boosts queen bee production
Two new papers show that the spiny pollen from plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) both reduces infection of a common bee parasite by 81–94% and markedly increases the production of queen bumble bees.
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Tracking batch culture pinpoints moment when ‘silent’ biosynthetic gene clusters kick in
A team of scientists has mapped the times during a batch culture when core biosynthetic genes surged into action, showing that bursts of biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) transcriptional activity correlated with surges in net production rates per cell of known natural compounds.
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Chemical warfare against competitors drives colonization success in plant microbiota
Two natural chemicals - produced by a single bacterium - not only affect the structural organization of the root microbiota, but also act in concert to give the bacterium an advantage in colonizing and dominating the root niche.
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Rising temperatures alter ‘missing link’ of microbial processes, putting northern peatlands at risk
Study finds that microbial processes in peatlands fall out of sync at higher temperatures, with Sphagnum moss cover plummeting as the mercury rises.