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"A Guardian of Grasses"

Category(-ies): Plant Discoveries , Plants, Food and Medicine

Researchers from Purdue University and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service have discovered that many of the world's grass food crops (e.g., corn, barley, rice, rye) depend on the Hm1 gene or one of its homologues (genes similar in structure and evolutionary origin) to prevent death from a leaf blight and mold disease caused by the fungus Cochliobolus carbonum race 1 (CCR1). As the abstract for the scientific article states, "Given the devastating ability of CCR1 to kill maize, these findings imply that the evolution and/or geographical distribution of grasses may have been constrained if Hm1 did not emerge."

Grasses' Guardian Gene Found via the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

Sindhu et al. 2008. A guardian of grasses: Specific origin and conservation of a unique disease-resistance gene in the grass lineage. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. 105(5): 1762-1767. 10.1073/pnas.0711406105

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 3:37 PM | Comments (0)



Rapid Evolution in Crepis

Category(-ies): Plant Discoveries

Researchers from the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) in Montpellier, France have observed rapid evolution in a population of Crepis sancta (Asteraceae) in response to the urban environment.

Crepis sancta produces two types of seeds (i.e., it has dimorphic seeds): a small seed with a pappus and a large seed without. The seed with the pappus favours high dispersal, while the seed without a pappus falls to the ground near the parent plant. In a comparison of urban and rural populations of Crepis sancta, the researchers discovered that the urban populations produced far fewer of the pappus-borne seeds. The hypothesis is that the populations have shifted away from producing pappus-borne seeds because of low germination rates in urban environments — in as few as five generations.

Plant seeds adapt to ‘city life’ via the BBC.

Thanks to Stannous F for sending along the story!

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:03 PM