It is a simple fact of science that over evolutionary time, such as thousands or even millions of years, an organism’s diet can influence and alter its genetics to make it more adapted toward the food it eats. The Effects of Agriculture There is a natural assumption that the same is true for humans, as […]
The fight against Potyviruses is seemingly neverending in agriculture. Say Hello To Another Terrible Potyvirus As past discussions have shown, they are some of the most deadly plant viruses out there, causing huge swaths of crop death and harvest losses. Additionally, moving up a level to the family of Potyviridae shows that 30% of all […]
It’s best just to start off with the most basic, blatant information about gluten and claims of reactions to it, before we get into today’s study. Debunking Some Pseudoscience Unless you have celiac disease, you cannot have a reaction to gluten. So-called “gluten intolerance” was debunked by the very team of scientists that claimed its […]
We’ve discussed symbiotic relationships before, from the endosymbiosis that bacteria have with plants and fungi to the mutualistic relationships between plants and fungi directly. But those occasional dalliances are nowhere on the scale of what happens with orchids in the family Orchidaceae. The Deadly Life of Orchids Practically all orchids currently known, 28,000 and counting, […]
When dealing with fungi, it is never just the organism itself that is the problem, but also the many mutualistic relationships it has in the soil. In some cases, those relationships are antagonistic and can be used against fungi that attack crops, such as by using specialized mycoviruses. But even in the cases where the […]
Would you like to eat broccoli year round and also increase harvests to twice a season? Well, that’s what researchers at the John Innes Centre in the UK are attempting to accomplish. This accomplishment builds on prior research on the inner workings of vernalisation, which is the process that induces crops to flower after experiencing […]
CRISPR’s capabilities have been expanded once again, this time to be used to increase the amount of healthy fats in soybeans. Let’s skip right into the details for once without any backstory. To The Research! Researchers at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea have been working on their own variant of CRISPR […]
Pesticides are a necessity in agriculture. Prior to the use of pesticides in any form, farmers would often find their livelihood under siege by pests from every type, fungi, insect, microbial, and other plants. Yields could drop precipitously from any severe infestation. Plants themselves also agree, with each type of plant producing dozens of pesticides […]
Proteins make up everything living that matters. Okay, sure, DNA actually makes up everything, but DNA just exists to transcribe and make proteins. It’s the proteins that actually get the work done. All the tiny cellular work that eventually causes macroscopic bodily changes. So, give proteins a little thank you every once in a while. […]
Temperature, rainfall, soil stability, and many other factors contribute to plant growth (and in turn successful agriculture). Humans do our best to help influence and manipulate these conditions to improve our ability to grow crops, but even this is unable to change the basic fact that there are certain areas of the world that are […]
