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FacebookPlans for China-UK Centre of Excellence for plant research
A new centre of excellence for plant research is planned in China following a joint symposium in Shanghai between researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the John Innes Centre.
The symposium highlighted shared scientific goals that will drive the step change in agriculture needed to produce food sustainably in the future. The world population threatens to reach 9 billion by 2050, putting the challenges for plant science firmly in the spotlight. The JIC and the CAS Institutes share strength in crop genomics and in understanding how plants and microbes produce…
Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer’s book in the land of the midnight sun
Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes new research from the John Innes Centre and the Max Planck Institute has found. Researchers have found a genetic mutation in some Scandinavian barley varieties that disrupts the circadian clock that barley from southern regions use to time their growing season. Just as reindeer have dropped the clock in adapting to extremely long days, so has Scandinavian barley to grow successfully…
Plant perfumes woo beneficial bugs
Scientists funded by BBSRC have discovered that maize crops emit chemical signals which attract growth-promoting microbes to live amongst their roots. This is the first chemical signal that has been shown to attract beneficial bacteria to the maize root environment. The study was led by Dr Andy Neal of Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire and Dr Jurriaan Ton of the University of Sheffield's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences. By deepening our understanding of how cereals interact with microorganisms in the soil…
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Feeling the heat
Plant scientists gather evidence on the precise ways in which plants are affected by rising temperatures and falling rainfall levels.
Joining forces to defeat wheat disease
UK-South Africa collaboration to tackle global threat…
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World-class facilities for virus research
Multi-million pound laboratory completed at Institute for Animal Health.
Helping cereal growers to play their cards right
Crop genomics research help to significantly accelerate barley and wheat breeding programmes…
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