Dr Renske Vroomans has been appointed to the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) to lead research into the evolutionary dynamics of developmental processes in plants.
Scientists have created plants whose cells and tissues ‘blush’ with beetroot pigments when they are colonised by fungi that help them take up nutrients from the soil.
Like the movie version of Spider-Man who shoots spider webs from holes in his wrists, a little alpine plant has been found to eject cobweb-like threads from tiny holes in specialised cells on its leaves.
To describe something as slow and boring we say it’s “like watching grass grow”, but scientists studying the early morning activity of plants have found they make a rapid start to their day – within minutes of dawn.
In some environments there is no way for a seed to know for sure when the best time to germinate is. So how does a plant make sure that all of its offspring are not killed at once by an ill-timed environmental stress following germination?
Can one plant produce both tasty and nutritious beans and tubers? Yes, the African yam bean can. Not only does it grow high-protein edible grains and tubers, this drought-resilient crop also replenishes the soil and is highly adaptable to varying-climates.
The mechanism by which the plant hormone cytokinin controls cell division has been discovered – a breakthrough that significantly improves our understanding of how plants grow.
The research team that developed a biosensor that first recorded that a distinct gradient of the plant growth hormone gibberellin correlated with plant cell size has now revealed how this distribution pattern is created in roots.
Chris Whitewoods will join the SLCU research leadership team to head a new research group focused on understanding how plants pattern themselves in three dimensions.
