Category: plant genes
“Extremophytes” – Plants With Weird and Fascinating Properties
Plant “Extremophiles”? Recently, I was reading about a new species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines, and I discovered a new word (to me, at least). This new word is “extremophyte“. Simply put, most extremophytes are plants evolutionarily adapted to thrive in highly stressful environments. Physically stressful, that is,…
Cool Plant Tools: DNA Barcoding
A Plant Sexual Thermostat? – New Information About Temperature Controlled Flowering
Hothouse Flowers Unlike animals, plants are not born with their “naughty bits”. That is, the sexual organs of plants, a.k.a., flowers, are typically formed after a period of so-called vegetative growth. In other words, plants first go through a vegetative stage of development (think shoots and leaves, over and over…
Does Ingested Plant Material Regulate Your Genes? – Probably Not
A New Twist on “You Are What You Eat”? In a previous post, I alerted readers about research from China’s Nanjing University reporting that small bits of genetic material from ingested plants may regulate gene expression in mice. These surprising results from Chen-Yu Zhang’s lab claimed that bits of plant…
Nothing To Sneeze At: Making Pollen-Free Plants Using Genetic Engineering
Sneeze The pollen from some plants can cause allergic rhinitis, a.k.a., “hay fever” in many people. This is because, when the pollen is inhaled into the nasal passages, antigens on the surface of the pollen elicit an immune response in people with a sensitized immune system. (In grass pollen, the…
Are Genetically-Engineered Plants Self-Replicating Inventions?
The Naked Tomato – Stripping Down Solanum lycopersicum
na.ked [nay-kid] adj.- “exposed to view or plainly revealed“ Good Times For Tomato Science The tomato (a.k.a., Solanum lycopersicum). What are the chemicals that make most homegrown tomatoes taste so good? What is the genome sequence of the domesticated tomato? And how is it related to wild relatives, and even…
“Farmaceuticals” and “Plantibodies” – Using Genetically-Engineered Plants to Produce Drugs and Vaccines
New Meanings For “Medicinal Plants”? Plants have been used by humans for thousands of years as a source of medicines, some effective, many not so much (except perhaps as placebos). The first botanists were likely shaman herbalists who possessed the knowledge of which plants would kill and which plants would…
The Genetics of Flowering as a Play in Three “Acts”
The Players Because the genetic story of how plants flower turns out to involve many cellular “players”, as well as an intricate plot, perhaps it would be a good idea to first introduce the main “cast of characters”. Let’s start with florigen. As previously described, this is the so-called flowering…
“Extremophytes” – Plants With Weird and Fascinating Properties

Plant “Extremophiles”? Recently, I was reading about a new species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines, and I discovered a new word (to me, at least). This new word is “extremophyte“. Simply put, most extremophytes are plants evolutionarily adapted to thrive in highly stressful environments. Physically stressful, that is,…
Cool Plant Tools: DNA Barcoding
A Plant Sexual Thermostat? – New Information About Temperature Controlled Flowering

Hothouse Flowers Unlike animals, plants are not born with their “naughty bits”. That is, the sexual organs of plants, a.k.a., flowers, are typically formed after a period of so-called vegetative growth. In other words, plants first go through a vegetative stage of development (think shoots and leaves, over and over…
Does Ingested Plant Material Regulate Your Genes? – Probably Not
A New Twist on “You Are What You Eat”? In a previous post, I alerted readers about research from China’s Nanjing University reporting that small bits of genetic material from ingested plants may regulate gene expression in mice. These surprising results from Chen-Yu Zhang’s lab claimed that bits of plant…
Nothing To Sneeze At: Making Pollen-Free Plants Using Genetic Engineering
Sneeze The pollen from some plants can cause allergic rhinitis, a.k.a., “hay fever” in many people. This is because, when the pollen is inhaled into the nasal passages, antigens on the surface of the pollen elicit an immune response in people with a sensitized immune system. (In grass pollen, the…
Are Genetically-Engineered Plants Self-Replicating Inventions?
The Naked Tomato – Stripping Down Solanum lycopersicum

na.ked [nay-kid] adj.- “exposed to view or plainly revealed“ Good Times For Tomato Science The tomato (a.k.a., Solanum lycopersicum). What are the chemicals that make most homegrown tomatoes taste so good? What is the genome sequence of the domesticated tomato? And how is it related to wild relatives, and even…
“Farmaceuticals” and “Plantibodies” – Using Genetically-Engineered Plants to Produce Drugs and Vaccines

New Meanings For “Medicinal Plants”? Plants have been used by humans for thousands of years as a source of medicines, some effective, many not so much (except perhaps as placebos). The first botanists were likely shaman herbalists who possessed the knowledge of which plants would kill and which plants would…
The Genetics of Flowering as a Play in Three “Acts”

The Players Because the genetic story of how plants flower turns out to involve many cellular “players”, as well as an intricate plot, perhaps it would be a good idea to first introduce the main “cast of characters”. Let’s start with florigen. As previously described, this is the so-called flowering…