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Moss genome shows how plants invaded the land and learned to survive heat and drought
12-13-2007 · EurekAlert!A dainty yet ephemeral moss is the latest organism to have its genome sequenced, providing scientists with keys to the genetic changes that allowed aquatic plants to venture onto land. The genes for tolerance to desiccation, for example, may aid researchers seeking to develop drought-tolerant biofuel feedstocks. Proposed by UC Berkeley and Washington University botanists, the moss genome sequencing was conducted by DOE's Joint Genome Institute and annotated by scientists from more than 40 institutions.
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Keywords: moss, genome, shows, plants, invaded, land, learned, survive, heat, drought, show, plant
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- DOE JGI Community Sequencing Program delivers first moss genome
12-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
Messages from nearly a half-billion years ago, conveyed via the inventory of genes sequenced from a present-day moss, provide clues about the earliest colonization of dry land by plants. The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, was among the leaders of an international effort to complete the sequence of the first nonvascular land plant, the moss Physcomitrella patens, published Dec. 13 online in Science Express.
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- WUSTL researchers spearhead key genome initiative
12-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
The complete genome of a moss has been sequenced, providing scientists an important evolutionary link between single-celled algae and flowering plants, suggests a study published in the journal Science. A major landmark in understanding how plants originated, the moss genome sequencing offers insight into the conquest of land by plants and sheds light on the evolution of the plant kingdom, says study co-author Ralph S. Quatrano, a biology professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
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- Deep in the ocean, a clam that acts like a plant
02-20-2007 · EurekAlert!
How does life survive in the black depths of the ocean? At the surface, sunlight allows green plants to "fix" carbon from the air to build their bodies. Around hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean live communities of giant clams with no gut and no functional digestive system, depending on symbiotic bacteria to use energy locked up in hydrogen sulfide to replace sunlight. Now, the genome of this symbiont has been completely sequenced.
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- Old leaves need to die in time or they will bring a plant down
11-01-2006 · EurekAlert!
In a study from the November issue of the American Naturalist, researchers Alex Boonman and co-workers from the Netherlands show that it is beneficial for plants growing in a dense stand to shed their oldest, lower leaves once these become shaded. By using transgenic tobacco plants that do not shed their lower leaves, they were able to show that shaded old leaves become a burden to a plant because they no longer photosynthesize but still require energy to be maintained.
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- Research identifies protein that signals flowering in squash plants
05-31-2007 · EurekAlert!
In research published today in the Plant Cell, analysis of the phloem sap collected from daylength-induced and non-induced squash plants shows that the presence of FT-Like protein, but not FT-Like mRNA, is highly correlated with the onset of flowering. This research provides some of the most solid evidence to date that FT protein acts as a florigenic signal.
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- Lessons learned from drought deaths 40,000 years ago
11-24-2006 · EurekAlert!
Drought-stricken Australia should heed a warning from a new study that shows a series of massive droughts killed giant kangaroos and other "megafauna" in south-east Queensland 40,000 years ago, according to researchers from the Queensland University of Technology.
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- Internal clock, external light regulate plant growth
07-09-2007 · EurekAlert!
Most plants and animals show changes in activity over a 24-hour cycle. Now, for the first time, researchers have shown how a plant combines signals from its internal clock with those from the environment to show a daily rhythm of growth.
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- Mixed prairie grasses are better biofuel source, U of M study says
12-07-2006 · EurekAlert!
Highly diverse mixtures of native prairie plant species have emerged as a leader in the quest to identify the best source of biomass for producing sustainable, bio-based fuel to replace petroleum. A new study led by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology in the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences, shows that mixtures of native perennial grasses and other flowering plants provide more usable energy per acre than corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel and are far better for the environment.
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- Weed gave up sex long ago
08-07-2007 · EurekAlert!
The ability of plants to self-pollinate -- a big factor in the spread of weeds -- is much older than previously thought in one widely studied species, biologists from five leading institutions say. The findings show that at least in plant evolution, sex with others may bemore trouble than it's worth.
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- Evolutionary biology research on plant shows significance of maternal effects
11-15-2007 · EurekAlert!
A University of Virginia study, published in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Science, demonstrates that plants grown in the same setting as their maternal plant performed almost 3.5 times better than those raised in a different environment -- indicating that maternal plants give cues to their offspring that help them adapt to their environmental conditions.
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