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Plants Have A Body Clock As Well Research Shows
This research highlights a single letter change in their DNA code can potentially decide whether a plant is a lark or a night owl
This research highlights a single letter change in their DNA code can potentially decide whether a plant is a lark or a night owl. The findings may help farmers and crop breeders to select plants with clocks that are best suited to their location, helping to boost yield and even the ability to withstand climate change.
The circadian clock is the molecular metronome that guides organisms through day and night -- cockadoodledooing the arrival of morning and drawing the curtains closed at night. In plants, it regulates a wide range of processes, from priming photosynthesis at dawn through to regulating flowering time.
These rhythmic patterns can vary depending on geography, latitude, climate, and seasons -- with plant clocks having to adapt to cope best with the local conditions.
Researchers at the Earlham Institute and John Innes Centre in Norwich wanted to better understand how much circadian variation exists naturally, with the ultimate goal of breeding crops that are more resilient to local changes in the environment -- a pressing threat with climate change.
To investigate the genetic basis of these local differences, the team examined varying circadian rhythms in Swedish Arabidopsis plants to identify and validate genes linked to the changing tick of the clock.
Click here to access the complete research.
21 Dec 2020
Published by Dani Kliegerman for iGrow.News
A New Tool Can Help Tell The Story Behind Your Plants
The site offers information about the UF/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ (UF/IFAS) Plant Breeding program, which includes ornamentals, fresh produce, and more
Posted by Brian Sparks
August 23, 2020
There’s a story behind every plant consumers might find in a garden center or on a supermarket shelf. Now, a new website developed by plant breeders at the University of Florida (UF) is helping to tell that story.
The site offers information about the UF/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ (UF/IFAS) Plant Breeding program, which includes ornamentals, fresh produce, and more.
“The overall goal of the website is to provide a comprehensive information hub for plant breeding at UF/IFAS,” says Vance Whitaker, Associate Professor at UF/IFAS and Chair of the UF/IFAS Plant Breeders Working Group. Whitaker has bred new strawberry varieties from the fields and labs at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) in Balm, FL.
“This includes information on our new interdepartmental graduate degree program, which will go online in fall 2021, plant-breeding research from faculty who genetically improve more than 50 plant species, and the real-world impact of the plant varieties we develop.”
When it comes to ornamentals, home and property owners often enhance their landscapes with the beautiful lantana. However, some of the plant’s varieties may escape yards, spread to areas where they shouldn’t go, and cross-pollinate Florida’s native lantana.
That’s why, in 2004, the head of the Tampa Bay Wholesale Growers Association asked UF/IFAS plant scientist Zhanao Deng if he could breed sterile, non-invasive lantana plants.
In response, Deng has developed three varieties that satisfy nursery managers, retailers, and consumers. ‘Bloomify Red’, ‘Bloomify Rose’, and ‘Luscious Red Zone Royale’ don’t produce fruit and seeds, don’t spread, and don’t cross-pollinate Florida’s native lantana, Lantana depressa, says Deng, a Professor of Environmental Horticulture at the UF/IFAS GCREC.
“Growers, landscapers, and gardeners like these sterile lantana varieties,” Deng says. “They have become a desirable replacement of the fertile, invasive types. More varieties with these characteristics are being developed.”
Source and Photo Courtesy of Greenhouse Grower
Brian D. Sparks is senior editor of Greenhouse Grower and GreenhouseGrower.com. See all author stories here.
Breakthrough In Artificial Photosynthesis Lets Scientists Store The Sun's Energy As Fuel
Plants have a seemingly effortless skill – turning sunlight into energy – and scientists have been working to artificially emulate this photosynthesis process
29 AUGUST 2020
Plants have a seemingly effortless skill – turning sunlight into energy – and scientists have been working to artificially emulate this photosynthesis process. The ultimate benefits for renewable energy could be huge – and a new approach based on 'photosheets' could be the most promising attempt we've seen so far.
The new device takes CO2, water, and sunlight as its ingredients, and then produces oxygen and formic acid that can be stored as fuel. The acid can either be used directly or converted into hydrogen – another potentially clean energy fuel.
Key to the innovation is the photosheet - or photocatalyst sheet - which uses special semiconductor powders that enable electron interactions and oxidation to occur when sunlight hits the sheet in water, with the help of a cobalt-based catalyst.
No additional components are required for the reaction to occur, and it's fully self-powered.
"We were surprised how well it worked in terms of its selectivity – it produced almost no by-products," says chemist Qian Wang, from the University of Cambridge in the UK.
"Sometimes things don't work as well as you expected, but this was a rare case where it actually worked better."
The device in action. (University of Cambridge)
While the prototype photosheet only measures 20 square centimetres (3 square inches), the scientists who invented it say it should be relatively easy to scale up without incurring huge costs.
Ultimately, they think these sheets could be produced in large arrays, similar to those on solar farms. What's more, the resulting formic acid can be stored in a solution, and from there converted into different types of fuel as needed.
It achieves something that isn't always guaranteed in conversion systems like this – a clean and efficient process without any unwanted by-products. Any extra waste produced has to be dealt with, which can negate the positive effects of the initial reaction.
"It's been difficult to achieve artificial photosynthesis with a high degree of selectivity so that you're converting as much of the sunlight as possible into the fuel you want, rather than be left with a lot of waste," says Wang.
A team from the same lab was also responsible for developing an 'artificial leaf' material in 2019. While the new photosheet behaves in a similar way, it's more robust and easier to scale up – and it produces fuel that's more straightforward to store, too (last year's system created syngas).
That doesn't mean the new photosheet is ready to go commercial just yet: The researchers need to make the process a lot more efficient first; they are also experimenting with different catalysts that may be able to produce different solar fuels.
The need for a full transition to clean energy is more urgent than ever, but we're encouraged by how many projects are in the pipeline. However, as is the case with this new process, figuring out the science is just the start of producing a fuel that will work practically.
"Storage of gaseous fuels and separation of by-products can be complicated – we want to get to the point where we can cleanly produce a liquid fuel that can also be easily stored and transported," says chemist Erwin Reisner, from the University of Cambridge.
"We hope this technology will pave the way toward sustainable and practical solar fuel production."
The research has been published in Nature Energy.