The ABCs of flowers

06 Thursday Dec 2012

Tags

biology, Developmental biology, Flower, Gene, Gynoecium, Petal, Plant, Popular science, science, Sepal, Stamen

In 1991, researchers at the California Institute of Technology described the basic genetic system behind how flowers are made. The “ABC model” that they proposed was so popular and successful that it was quickly taken up by the community and was even included in textbooks when I did my undergraduate studies just six years later. I remember being fascinated the first time I heard about it. This was the sort of thing that got me really excited — disparate facts were brought together in an elegant mechanism that could robustly set up a flower but was still flexible enough to create different forms. Now, over a decade later, I’d like to share this inspirational work with you. Continue reading →

Of moss and micro-arthropods

10 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by sedeer in Arthropods, Plants

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

biology, dispersal, moss, Plant, pollination, Popular science, reproduction, science, Sperm, Springtail

Mosses were among the first plants to colonize land over 400 million years ago, but they never really left the water behind. Unlike seed plants, mosses (as well as ferns and liverworts) don’t enclose their sperm in pollen but release it directly. Since their unprotected sperm is vulnerable to drying out, these plants can only reproduce if there’s a watery film through which the sperm can swim. However, recent research has started to uncover a more complicated story behind the sex life of mosses. Mounting evidence suggests that mosses recruit micro-arthropods like springtails and mites to carry their sperm in the same way that flowering plants attract and reward insect pollinators.
Continue reading →

The bacteria that make it rain

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by sedeer in Bacteria, Microbiology, Plants

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

biology, Bioprecipitation, Cloud, Ice, Ice crystals, Ice nucleus, Nucleation, Popular science, science, Water cycle

Strange as it may seem, water doesn’t actually freeze at zero degrees. In fact, even at temperatures as cold as -10°C, water still needs help turning into ice. Living creatures of all stripes have learned to take advantage of this curious fact in different ways, though none have done so with quite as much style as bacteria. Continue reading →

Through the gut: how plants in food regulate genes in animals

27 Sunday May 2012

Posted by sedeer in Genetics, Humans, Mammals, Plants

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

biology, digestion, DNA, Gene expression, GMO, Health, horizontal transfer, Human, MicroRNA, Mouse, nutrition, Popular science, RNA, science

In an exciting discovery reported last year, a team of Chinese researchers found that some of the genetic material in our food might survive digestion and go on to regulate our genes and affect our physiology. This new mechanism for genetic interactions between very different species raises interesting evolutionary questions and will probably have implications for the study of health and nutrition, but it’s important to understand what the study was actually about, particularly since this will likely affect the debate around GMO foods. Continue reading →

Novel approach in plant breeding can recreate parental lines

02 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by sedeer in Genetics, Plants

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Agriculture, biology, breeding, Chromosome, farming, Heterosis, hybrid, hybrid vigor, Meiosis, Popular science, science, Seed

In a really neat piece of work based around a remarkably simple bit of engineering and some textbook genetics, a team of scientists has found a way to regenerate a plant’s parents through breeding — a technique they call “reverse breeding”. This clever bit of research, which is described in a paper appearing in Nature Genetics, should be applicable to a wide range of crop species, opening up the possibility of significant advances in crop improvement and breeding programmes.

Continue reading →

On the brink of extinction

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by sedeer in Conservation, Plants

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Australia, endangered, genetic diversity, Popular science, science, Wollemi

In 1994, David Noble was trekking through Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains, about 200km northwest of Sydney, Australia, when he came across a copse of unusual looking trees. Unable to identify them, he took specimens back with him for further study. Botanists were shocked to realize that the trees which Noble had found belonged to a lineage which they believed had been extinct for millions of years. Designated Wollemia nobilis (in honour of the place and person of discovery), this “living fossil” made international headlines and has been dubbed the botanical find of the century. Since then, two other groves of W. nobilis have been discovered near the original, but the extremely low number of specimens found in the wild make the Wollemi pine one of the most endangered tree species on the planet.