December 6, 2012

Biologists unlocking the secrets of plant defenses, one piece at a time




Researchers examining how the hormone jasmonate works to protect plants and promote their growth have revealed how a transcriptional repressor of the jasmonate signaling pathway makes its way into the nucleus of the plant cell.

They hope the recently published discovery will eventually help farmers experience better crop yields with less use of potentially harmful chemicals.

“This is a small piece of a bigger picture, but it is a very important piece,” said Maeli Melotto, a University of Texas at Arlington assistant professor of biology.