探花直播 of Cambridge - Sainsbury Laboratory

Hundreds of A-level students see grades rise and secure places at top universities following Cambridge's STEM SMART initiative

sb726 — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 07:30:17 +0000

UCAS evaluation shows the most engaged sixth formers saw their results jump by a grade on average,聽were up to聽four times as successful in achieving an A*, and around twice as successful in securing an Oxbridge place.

Flowers use adjustable 鈥榩aint by numbers鈥� petal designs to attract pollinators

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 18:00:51 +0000

探花直播study, by researchers at the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Sainsbury Laboratory also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over smaller ones and fly 25% faster between artificial flower discs with larger bullseyes 鈥� potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms.聽

Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the centre of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, enhancing the plant's chances of successful pollination. Despite their importance, surprisingly little is known about how these petal patterns form and how they have evolved into the vast diversity we see today, including spots, stripes, veins, and bullseyes.聽

Using a small hibiscus plant as a model, researchers compared closely related plants with the same flower size but three differently sized bullseye patterns featuring a dark purple centre surrounded by white 鈥� H. richardsonii (small bullseye covering 4% of the flower disc), H. trionum (medium bullseye covering 16%) and a transgenic line (mutation) of H. trionum (large bullseye covering 36%).聽

They found that a pre-pattern is set up on the petal surface very early in the flower鈥檚 formation long before the petal shows any visible colour. 探花直播petal acts like a 'paint-by-numbers' canvas, where different regions are predetermined to develop specific colours and textures long before they start looking different from one another.聽

探花直播research also shows plants can precisely control and modify the shape and size of these patterns using multiple mechanisms, with possible implications for plant evolution. By fine-tuning these designs, plants may gain a competitive advantage in the contest to attract pollinators or maybe start attracting different species of insects.聽

These findings are published in Science Advances.聽

Dr Edwige Moyroud, who leads a research team studying the mechanisms underlying pattern formation in petals, explained: 鈥淚f a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of tools. By studying how bullseye patterns change, what we are really trying to understand is how nature generates biodiversity.鈥澛�

Lead author Dr Lucie Riglet investigated the mechanism behind hibiscus petal patterning by analysing petal development in the three hibiscus flowers that had the same total size but different bullseye patterns.聽

3_hibiscus_bullseyes-2-01-01_sml.jpg

She found that the pre-pattern begins as a small, crescent-shaped region long before the bullseye is visible on tiny petals less than 0.2mm in size.聽

Dr Riglet said: 鈥淎t the earliest stage we could dissect, the petals have around 700 cells and are still greenish in colour, with no visible purple pigment and no difference in cell shape or size. When the petal further develops to 4000 cells, it still does not have any visible pigment, but we identified a specific region where the cells were larger than their surrounding neighbours.聽This is the pre-pattern.鈥澛�

These cells are important because they mark the position of the bullseye boundary, the line on the petal where the colour changes from purple to white 鈥� without a boundary there is no bullseye!聽

A computational model developed by Dr Argyris Zardilis provided further insights, and combining both computational models and experimental results, the researchers showed that hibiscus can vary bullseye dimensions very early during the pre-patterning phase or modulate growth in either region of the bullseye, by adjusting cell expansion or division, later in development.聽

Dr Riglet then compared the relative success of the bullseye patterns in attracting pollinators using artificial flower discs that mimicked the three different bullseye dimensions. Dr Riglet explained: 鈥� 探花直播bees not only preferred the medium and larger bullseyes over the small bullseye, they were also 25% quicker visiting these larger flower discs. Foraging requires a lot of energy and so if a bee can visit 4 flowers rather than 3 flowers in the same time, then this is probably beneficial for the bee, and also the plants.鈥澛�

探花直播researchers think that these pre-patterning strategies could have deep evolutionary roots, potentially influencing the diversity of flower patterns across different species. 探花直播next step for the research team is to identify the signals responsible for generating these early patterns and to explore whether similar pre-patterning mechanisms are used in other plant organs, such as leaves.聽

This research not only advances our understanding of plant biology but also highlights the intricate connections between plants and their environments, showing how precise natural designs can play a pivotal role in the survival and evolution of species.聽

For example, H. richardsonii, which has the smallest bullseye of the three hibiscus plants studied in this research, is a critically endangered plant native to New Zealand. H. trionum is also found in New Zealand, but not considered to be native, and is widely distributed across Australia and Europe and has become a weedy naturalised plant in North America. Additional research is needed to determine whether the larger bullseye size helps H. trionum attract more pollinators and enhance its reproductive success.聽

Reference聽
Lucie Riglet, Argyris Zardilis, Alice L M Fairnie, May T Yeo, Henrik J枚nsson and Edwige Moyroud (2024) Hibiscus bullseyes reveal mechanisms controlling petal pattern proportions that influence plant-pollinator interactions. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5574聽

Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes 鈥� a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.聽聽

If a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of tools

Edwige Moyroud

Bumblebees prefer bigger targets

Lucie Riglet

Artificial flower discs designed to mimic the bullseye sizes of the three hibiscus flowers

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Scientists discover entirely new wood type that could be highly efficient at carbon storage

kjg45 — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:14:49 +0000

Scientists from the Sainsbury Laboratory at Cambridge 探花直播 and Jagiellonian 探花直播, Poland made the discovery while undertaking an evolutionary survey of the microscopic structure of wood from some of the world鈥檚 most iconic trees and shrubs.鈥�

They聽found that Tulip Trees, which are related to magnolias and can grow over 30 metres (100 feet) tall, have a unique type of wood. This discovery may explain why the trees, which diverged from magnolias when earth's atmospheric聽CO₂聽concentrations were relatively low, grow so tall and so fast. This opens new opportunities to improve carbon capture and storage in plantation forests by planting a fast-growing tree more commonly seen in ornamental gardens, or聽breeding聽Tulip Tree-like wood into other tree species.

探花直播discovery was part of an evolutionary survey of the microscopic structure of wood from 33 tree species from the聽Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden鈥檚聽Living Collections.聽探花直播survey explored how wood ultrastructure evolved across softwoods (gymnosperms such as pines and conifers) and hardwoods (angiosperms including oak, ash, birch, and eucalypts).鈥�

探花直播wood samples were collected from trees in the Botanic Garden in coordination with its Collections Coordinator. Fresh samples of wood, deposited in the previous spring growing season, were collected from a selection of trees to reflect the evolutionary history of gymnosperm and angiosperm populations as they diverged and evolved.鈥�

Using the Sainsbury Laboratory's low temperature scanning electron microscope (cryo-SEM), the team imaged and measured the size of the nanoscale architecture of secondary cell walls (wood) in their native hydrated state.

Microscopy Core Facility Manager at the Sainsbury Laboratory,聽Dr Raymond Wightman, said: 鈥淲e聽analysed some of the world鈥檚 most iconic trees like the聽Coast Redwood, Wollemi Pine and so-called 'living fossils' such as鈥疉mborella trichopoda, which is the sole surviving species of a family of plants that was the earliest still existing group to evolve separately from all other聽flowering plants.

鈥淥ur survey data has given us new insights into the evolutionary relationships between wood nanostructure and the cell wall composition, which differs across the lineages of angiosperm and gymnosperm plants. Angiosperm cell walls possess characteristic narrower elementary units, called macrofibrils, compared to gymnosperms.鈥濃€�

探花直播researchers found the two surviving species of the ancient聽Liriodendron聽genus, commonly known as the Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and Chinese Tulip Tree (Liriodendron chinense)聽have much larger macrofibrils than their hardwood relatives.

Hardwood angiosperm macrofibrils are about 15 nanometres in diameter and faster growing softwood gymnosperm macrofibrils have larger 25 nanometre macrofibrils. Tulip Trees have macrofibrils somewhere in between, measuring 20 nanometres.

Lead author of the research published in聽New Phytologist,聽Dr Jan 艁yczakowski聽from聽Jagiellonian 探花直播, said: 鈥淲e show聽Liriodendrons聽have an intermediate macrofibril structure that is significantly different from the structure of either softwood or hardwood.聽Liriodendrons聽diverged from Magnolia Trees around 30-50 million years ago, which coincided with a rapid reduction in atmospheric CO2. This might help explain why Tulip Trees are highly effective at carbon storage.鈥�

探花直播team suspect it is the larger macrofibrils in this 'midwood'聽or 'accumulator-wood' that is behind the Tulip Trees鈥� rapid growth.

艁yczakowski鈥痑dded: 鈥淏oth Tulip Tree species are known to be exceptionally efficient at locking in carbon, and their enlarged macrofibril structure could be an adaptation to help them more readily capture and store larger quantities of carbon when the availability of atmospheric carbon was being reduced. Tulip Trees聽may end up being useful for carbon capture plantations. Some east Asian countries are already using鈥疞iriodendron鈥痯lantations to efficiently lock in鈥痗arbon, and we now think this might be related to its novel wood structure.鈥濃€�

Liriodendron tulipifera聽are native to northern America and聽Liriodendron chinense聽is a native species of central and southern China and Vietnam.

艁yczakowski said: 鈥淒espite its importance, we know little about how the structure of wood evolves and adapts to the external environment.聽We made some key new discoveries in this survey 鈥撀燼n entirely novel form of wood ultrastructure never observed before and a family of gymnosperms with angiosperm-like hardwood instead of the typical gymnosperm softwood.鈥�

鈥� 探花直播main building blocks of wood are the secondary cell walls, and it is the architecture of these cell walls that give wood its density and strength that we rely on for construction. Secondary cell walls are also the largest repository of carbon in the biosphere, which makes it even more important to understand their diversity to further our carbon capture programmes to help mitigate climate change.鈥�

This research was funded by the National Science Centre Poland and 探花直播Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

Reference:聽Lyczakowski, J L and Wightman, R.聽"Convergent and adaptive evolution drove change of secondary cell wall ultrastructure in extant lineages of seed plants." July 2024,聽New Phytologist.鈥�聽DOI:聽10.1111/nph.19983

All cryo-SEM images from the wood survey are publicly available.鈥�

Celebrating Women in STEM

plc32 — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 11:33:15 +0000

To mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science , two of our academics speak about their research careers and how they ended up using their STEM interests to tackle climate change.

A habitable planet for healthy humans

plc32 — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 17:28:42 +0000

Cambridge Zero symposium gathers researchers to examine the connections between planetary and public health.

Carbon-omics and global health

plc32 — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 12:05:53 +0000

Cambridge Zero to host two research symposia to discuss critical climate change challenges

Cambridge 探花直播 Herbarium gains national significance accolade

jg533 — Tue, 31 May 2022 07:31:22 +0000

探花直播Herbarium has been officially awarded Designated status by the Arts Council England

Blushing plants reveal when fungi are growing in their roots

jg533 — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 07:06:15 +0000

This is the first time this vital, 400 million year old process has been visualised in real time in full root systems of living plants. Understanding the dynamics of plant colonisation by fungi could help to make food production more sustainable in the future.

Almost all crop plants form associations with a particular type of fungi 鈥� called arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi 鈥� in the soil, which greatly expand their root surface area. This mutually beneficial interaction boosts the plant鈥檚 ability to take up nutrients that are vital for growth.聽

探花直播more nutrients plants obtain naturally, the less artificial fertilisers are needed. Understanding this natural process, as the first step towards potentially enhancing it, is an ongoing research challenge. Progress is likely to pay huge dividends for agricultural productivity.

In a study published in the journal PLOS Biology, researchers used the bright red pigments of beetroot 鈥� called betalains 鈥� to visually track soil fungi as they colonised plant roots in a living plant.聽

鈥淲e can now follow how the relationship between the fungi and plant root develops, in real-time, from the moment they come into contact. We previously had no idea about what happened because there was no way to visualise it in a living plant without the use of elaborate microscopy,鈥� said Dr Sebastian Schornack, a researcher at the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Sainsbury Laboratory and joint senior author of the paper.聽

To achieve their results, the researchers engineered two model plant species 鈥� a legume and a tobacco plant 鈥� so that they would produce the highly visible betalain pigments when arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi were present in their roots. This involved combining the control regions of two genes activated by mycorrhizal fungi with genes that synthesise red-coloured betalain pigments.

探花直播plants were then grown in a transparent structure so that the root system was visible, and images of the roots could be taken with a flatbed scanner without disturbing the plants.

Using their technique, the researchers could select red pigmented parts of the root system to observe the fungus more closely as it entered individual plant cells and formed elaborate tree-like structures 鈥� called arbuscules 鈥� which grow inside the plant鈥檚 roots. Arbuscules take up nutrients from the soil that would otherwise be beyond the reach of the plant.聽

Other methods exist to visualise this process, but these involve digging up and killing the plant and the use of chemicals or expensive microscopy. This work makes it possible for the first time to watch by eye and with simple imaging how symbiotic fungi start colonising living plant roots, and inhabit parts of the plant root system over time.

鈥淭his is an exciting new tool to visualise this, and other, important plant processes. Beetroot pigments are a distinctive colour, so they鈥檙e very easy to see. They also have the advantage of being natural plant pigments, so they are well tolerated by plants,鈥� said Dr Sam Brockington, a researcher in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Plant Sciences, and joint senior author of the paper.

Mycorrhiza fungi are attracting growing interest in agriculture. This new technique provides the ability to 鈥榯rack and trace鈥� the presence of symbiotic fungi in soils from different sources and locations. 探花直播researchers say this will enable the selection of fungi that colonise plants fastest and provide the biggest benefits in agricultural scenarios.

Understanding and exploiting the dynamics of plant root system colonisation by fungi has potential to enhance future crop production in an environmentally sustainable way. If plants can take up more nutrients naturally, this will reduce the need for artificial fertilisers 鈥� saving money and reducing associated water pollution.聽

This research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, Royal Society, and Natural Environment Research Council.聽

Reference
Timoneda, A. & Yunusov, T. et al: 鈥�MycoRed: Betalain pigments enable in vivo real-time visualisation of arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation.鈥� PLOS Biology, July 2021. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001326

Scientists have created plants whose cells and tissues 鈥榖lush鈥� with beetroot pigments when they are colonised by fungi that help them take up nutrients from the soil.

We can now follow how the relationship between the fungi and plant root develops, in real-time, from the moment they come into contact.

Sebastian Schornack

Temur Yunusov and Alfonso Timoneda

Cells of roots colonised by fungi turn red

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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