Plant biology

Modern plant enzyme partners with surprisingly ancient protein

A recent study reveals that a protein responsible for building a key component of modern plant cell walls first emerged in ancient species.

Harnessing a natural plant insecticide for commercial use

Researchers in Australia have identified circular peptides, called cyclotides, that affect the formation of cell membranes, causing death or restricted growth.

Simple trick could improve accuracy of plant genetics research

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a technique used to study gene activity in other organisms can also be used to make studies in plants more accurate.

Weedy rice gets competitive boost from its wild neighbors

Rice feeds the world. But researchers have found that a look-alike weed has many ways of getting ahead.

‘Inert’ ingredients in pesticides may be more toxic to bees than scientists thought

Pesticide users sometimes know very little about how inerts function. That’s partly because they are regulated very differently than active ingredients.

Vampire viruses prey on other viruses to replicate themselves

And they may hold the key to new antiviral therapies.

You say genome editing, I say natural mutation

A Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory plant geneticist and computational biologist teamed up to decipher the unpredictability of natural and engineered mutations in tomatoes.

A cold day in Stockholm

At the dawn of a new age in neuroscience, the rivalry between Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal reached an icy climax.

Celebrating 100 years of the term ‘lipid’

Gabriel Bertrand put forward the idea in a paper published by the Bulletin de la Société de Chimie Biologique. The society approved Bertrand’s suggestion, with the French spelling “lipide,” in 1923.