Wild Tomato Traits Obtained With CRISPR And Protoplast Regeneration

Robustness is a characteristic that is highly desired for all plants that we grow, with the term covering the gamut of stress resistances and ability to defend oneself from pathogenic attacks. At the same time, however, agricultural breeders desire to bring in wild relatives of plants to provide a greater diversity of traits and, indeed, […]

Wheat P1210892

Plant Virus Can Gene Manipulate The Temperatures of Aphids and Wheat

A lot of the time when speaking of pathogens, the conversation stays on just the pathogenic organism itself and the host it exploits. But there are many other interactions that are possible and that complicate the scenario, especially those that involve an intermediate vector needed to spread the pathogen to the eventual host. It has […]

CRISPR Shows Witchweed Resistance Requires Growth Tradeoff

Whether through natural selection or human artificial selection from breeding, developing resistances to pests and other plant-damaging organisms isn’t always a straightforward path. There won’t always be a simple single gene and trait that can be manifested that will fix all the problems. For many traits, there is a required tradeoff where the organisms may […]

Plants Copy Nematode Pheromones To Repel Infestations

Plants never cease to reveal their unique and astonishing methods of protecting themselves from pathogens. Here on Bioscription we’ve previously discussed the topic of the pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) system and how it allows plants to uptake and conserve important foreign molecules for future immune system response. It is, in many ways, similar to the […]

Serrated wrack, red hornweed and other algae in Govik

Horizontally Transferred Genes Make Up 1% of Red Algae Genomes

The importance of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is likely understated in science. It was discussed only rarely in the past and, despite its current popularity and resurgence in relevance today, it continues to retain further secrets within the natural world that we have yet to uncover. We now openly know and have showcased over the […]

JfBasuitFields109SanIldefonsoBulacanfvf

Directed Evolution of Plants Via CRISPR DNA Breakage and Mutagenesis

If one is trying to find new and unique traits and abilities in any organism, then the regular span of generations takes far too long in the natural world. Instead of relying on evolution by natural selection, directed evolution by human hands works much better and can be accelerated in multiple ways. So far, the […]

Plant and Insect Viruses Act Symbiotically In Host Infection

When dealing with pathogens of plants, it is those of the viral kind in conjunction with their vector pests that can prove to be the biggest threats. Aphids, especially, are known for transmitting dozens of dangerous viral diseases while also themselves managing to kill a host plant outright through sucking up too much sap. Therefore, […]

Bees Drinking Honey

Honeybees Show Self-Vaccination Abilities Using dsRNA and Royal Jelly

While the honeybee has a comparatively negligible role when it comes to pollination in the wild, that niche filled by the dozens of other bee species that are also often colony-less, they nonetheless have an important spotlight on them when it comes to human agriculture. This is so even if they only make up less […]

18110_lores

Transposons: A History of Their Discovery and Their Viral Connections

As science has continued its investigation into the inner workings of biology and biological systems on the molecular level, we have managed to unearth more and more complexity in the relationships within not only our own body, but in the world around us. Every organism has a symbiotic and antagonistic relationship with its surroundings, with […]