探花直播 of Cambridge - plants

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

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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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探花直播tulip hunter of Toktogul

lw355 — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 09:15:17 +0000

Brett Wilson's love of wild tulips has taken him to some of the most spectacular places in Central Asia, where he discovered a new species in Toktogul, Kyrgyzstan. His work has helped to uncover the plight of 53 tulips which have been added to the 'Red List' of threatened species.

Cambridge experts on UK drought and climate change

lw355 — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 09:25:55 +0000

From pollinators to profits, food to fires, here's what Cambridge experts say about the impacts of water scarcity 鈥� and what it signals about our changing climate.

Return of the Titan

sjr81 — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 14:43:26 +0000

Staff at the Botanic Garden are asking Friends and visitors to help name the new arrival.

Director Beverley Glover said: 鈥淲e are delighted to announce that we have yet another Titan Arum plant preparing to flower 鈥� we think, within the next week! This will be the third flowering of a Titan Arum here at the Garden. Visitors may remember our 鈥楾iny鈥� titan flower back in 2015. 探花直播Titan plant about to flower is our other plant that last flowered in 2004 and we are asking our visitors to help name our new聽arrival!鈥�

探花直播Garden will be setting up a Twitter poll asking followers to vote for their favourite name from a shortlist of four: Yoda (as the plant is currently small and green and will display something resembling a lightsaber聽as it heats up); Arnie (鈥業鈥檒l be Back鈥︹€�); Morph and Titus (both from the plant鈥檚 Latin name Amorphophallus titanum).聽

Added Glover: 鈥淥ur last Titan was aptly named 鈥楾iny鈥� as it took us by surprise by flowering from a very small tuber 鈥� usually flowers only arise once the plant鈥檚 tuber weighs over 15kg. 探花直播plant about to flower is similar in weight but we are anticipating a larger flower because measurements are suggesting it鈥檚 going to be big. We鈥檝e come up with a straw poll of names chosen by staff and we鈥檇 love our visitors to have the final say."

Native to Sumatra in Indonesia, the Titan Arum, (Amorphophallus titanum), produces one of the largest single flowering structures in the world. Also known as the corpse flower, it has the ability to self-generate heat by a process known as thermogenesis. It heats up on the first night of full flowering to produce a stench of rotting flesh that in the wild attracts carrion beetle pollinators over vast distances. 探花直播flowering structure lasts 2-3 days only.

鈥� 探花直播Titan Arum is a fascinating plant to see in flower and flowering only really happens about once every decade, so it will be around another ten years before we witness this smelly spectacle again at the Garden," said Glover. "We really want to encourage people to take this opportunity to come and see this wonder of the plant world. We鈥檙e delighted to share this exciting moment with as many people who want to come and witness it as possible and we will keep the Garden open late on the two nights it chooses to flower."

Horticultural staff in the Garden realised the new bud on the Titan plant was in fact a flower, not a leaf, just a week ago.

探花直播flowering structure currently consists of an upright, creamy, spike-like spadix, embraced by a frilly, pale green spathe which is a highly modified leaf that forms a protective chamber around the 鈥榩roper鈥� flowers which are clustered at the base of the spadix. 探花直播frilly spathe turns blood red on flowering and this is when the spadix starts to heat up and releases strong smelling sulphurous compounds to attract the pollinators and lure them to the clusters of true flowers at the base of the spadix.

In the wild, it is understood that carrion beetles pollinate the plant with pollen from another Titan Arum plant. Pollination of female flowers clustered in rings at the base of the spadix occurs as the insects search for what they believe to be rotting meat. On the second day, the stench begins to fade and the plant鈥檚 male flowers open to release pollen onto the beetles as they depart, having searched in vain for a flesh feast. On the third day, the spathe closes up and eventually the spadix collapses.

Glover said: 鈥� 探花直播Titan Arum has a limited natural distribution, but with increasing habitat loss due to deforestation and habitat degradation, it is categorized as a vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. As a Botanic Garden, one of our key roles is conserving plants and caring for rare plants such as the Titan so that we can share our understanding of them and help as many people as possible to learn about these amazing plants.

鈥淲e鈥檇 love to be able to produce and nurture fruit and seed 鈥� to grow baby Titans from this plant. This is a tricky task but we have frozen pollen from 鈥楾iny鈥� and we鈥檝e also put out a call to other Botanic Gardens worldwide to see if they have fresh, younger pollen so that we can cross pollinate. Chicago Botanic Garden recently had Titan twins so we hope to receive some pollen from them as well as from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Rarely does this plant fruit in cultivation and we鈥檇 love to play our part in conserving this tropical giant.鈥�

探花直播Titan Arum is a difficult species to grow. It is demanding in its cultivation requirements, and generally unpredictable in flowering. It requires a high temperature along with high humidity to flourish, and also sufficient space to develop a large tuber, and in which to accommodate the flower. Considerable horticultural skill and knowledge is required to nurture this species from dormancy to flower.

Daily measurements will be tweeted from the Garden鈥檚 Twitter feed @CUBotanicGarden and a live web cam feed will be available from the Garden鈥檚 website www.botanic.cam.ac.uk so #ReturnOfTheTitan followers can watch the flower unfold.

Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden is awaiting the Return of the Titan. One of the two Titan Arums held in the Garden鈥檚 collection of plants will very soon produce another huge, magnificent flower along with the noxious smell that accompanies it.聽

As a Botanic Garden, one of our key roles is conserving plants and caring for rare plants such as the Titan.

BeverleyGlover

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Virus attracts bumblebees to infected plants by changing scent

fpjl2 — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 18:05:25 +0000

Plant scientists at the 探花直播 of Cambridge have found that the cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) alters gene expression in the tomato plants it infects, causing changes to air-borne chemicals 鈥� the scent 鈥� emitted by the plants. Bees can smell these subtle changes, and glasshouse experiments have shown that bumblebees prefer infected plants over healthy ones.聽聽

Scientists say that by indirectly manipulating bee behaviour to improve pollination of infected plants by changing their scent, the virus is effectively paying its host back. This may also benefit the virus: helping to spread the pollen of plants susceptible to infection and, in doing so, inhibiting the chance of virus-resistant plant strains emerging.

探花直播authors of the new study, published today in the journal PLOS Pathogens, say that understanding the smells that attract bees, and reproducing these artificially by using similar chemical blends, may enable growers to protect or even enhance yields of bee-pollinated crops.

鈥淏ees provide a vital pollination service in the production of three-quarters of the world鈥檚 food crops. With their numbers in rapid decline, scientists have been searching for ways to harness pollinator power to boost agricultural yields,鈥� said study principal investigator Dr John Carr, Head of Cambridge鈥檚 Virology and Molecular Plant Pathology group.

鈥淏etter understanding the natural chemicals that attract bees could provide ways of enhancing pollination, and attracting bees to good sources of pollen and nectar 鈥� which they need for survival,鈥� Carr said.

He conducted the study with Professor Beverley Glover, Director of Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden, where many of the experiments took place, and collaborators at Rothamsted Research.

CMV is transmitted by aphids 鈥� bees don鈥檛 carry the virus. It鈥檚 one of the most prevalent pathogens affecting tomato plants, resulting in small plants with poor-tasting fruits that can cause serious losses to cultivated crops.

Not only is CMV one of the most damaging viruses for horticultural crops, but it also persists in wild plant populations, and Carr says the new findings may explain why:

鈥淲e were surprised that bees liked the smell of the plants infected with the virus 鈥� it made no sense. You鈥檇 think the pollinators would prefer a healthy plant. However, modelling suggested that if pollinators were biased towards diseased plants in the wild, this could short-circuit natural selection for disease resistance,鈥� he said.

鈥� 探花直播virus is rewarding disease-susceptible plants, and at the same time producing new hosts it can infect to prevent itself from going extinct. An example, perhaps, of what鈥檚 known as symbiotic mutualism.鈥�

探花直播increased pollination from bees may also compensate for a decreased yield of seeds in the smaller fruits of virus-infected plants, say the scientists.

探花直播findings also reveal a new level of complexity in the evolutionary 鈥榓rms race鈥� between plants and viruses, in which it is classically believed that plants continually evolve new forms of disease-resistance while viruses evolve new ways to evade it.

鈥淲e would expect the plants susceptible to disease to suffer, but in making them more attractive to pollinators the virus gives these plants an advantage. Our results suggest that the picture of a plant-pathogen arms race is more complex than previously thought, and in some cases we should think of viruses in a more positive way,鈥� said Carr.

Plants emit 鈥榲olatiles鈥�, air-borne organic chemical compounds involved in scent, to attract pollinators and repulse plant-eating animals and microbes. Humans have used them for thousands of years as perfumes and spices.

探花直播researchers grew plants in individual containers, and collected air with emissions from CMV-infected plants, as well as 鈥榤ock-infected鈥� control plants.

Through mass spectrometry, researchers could see the change in emissions induced by the virus. They also found that bumblebees could smell the changes. Released one by one in a small 鈥榝light arena鈥� in the Botanic Gardens, and timed with a stopwatch by researchers, the bees consistently headed to the infected plants first, and spent longer at those plants.

鈥淏ees are far more sensitive to the blends of volatiles emitted by plants and can detect very subtle differences in the mix of chemicals. In fact, they can even be trained to detect traces of chemicals emitted by synthetic substances, including explosives and drugs,鈥� said Carr.

Analysis revealed that the virus produces a factor called 2b, which reprograms genetic expression in the tomato plants and causes the change in scent.

Mathematical modelling by plant disease epidemiologist Dr Nik Cunniffe, also in the Department of Plant Sciences at Cambridge, explored how the experimental findings apply outside the glasshouse. 探花直播model showed how pollinator bias for infected plants can cause genes for disease-susceptibility to persist in plant populations over extremely large numbers of generations.

探花直播latest study is the culmination of work spanning almost eight years (and multiple bee stings). 探花直播findings will form the basis of a new collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society, in which they aim to increase pollinator services for cultivated crops.

With the global population estimated to reach nine billion people by 2050, producing enough food will be one of this century鈥檚 greatest challenges. Carr, Glover and Cunniffe are all members of the Cambridge Global Food Security Initiative at Cambridge, which is involved in addressing the issues surrounding food security at local, national and international scales.

探花直播use of state-of-the-art experimental glasshouses at Cambridge Botanic Garden, and equipment at Cambridge and Rothamsted, was funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Study of bee-manipulating plant virus reveals a 鈥渟hort-circuiting鈥� of natural selection. Researchers suggest that replicating the scent caused by infection could encourage declining bee populations to pollinate crops 鈥� helping both bee and human food supplies.聽

Modelling suggested that if pollinators were biased towards diseased plants in the wild, this could short-circuit natural selection for disease resistance

John Carr

John Carr/Alex Murphy

Researcher Sanjie Jiang inside the 'flight arena' in the glasshouse of the Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden.

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden Festival of Plants

jeh98 — Tue, 10 May 2016 14:20:48 +0000

Set in the Garden鈥檚 40 acres, the Festival of Plants celebrates all things plant as it hosts a range of activities, tours and events including: hands-on plant science activities and plant-themed pop-up museum family fun; displays of carnivorous plants and orchids; free tours of the Garden and bite-size plant science talks. Horticultural experts will be on hand to answer plant queries and offer advice including tips on vegetable growing and composting and there will be specialist plant stalls, pop-up food stalls and musical entertainment on the Garden鈥檚 Main Lawn.

探花直播aim of the Botanic Garden鈥檚 Festival of Plants is to provide visitors with an opportunity to find out more about the plants the Garden grows and the science they support as well as exciting plant and conservation projects happening in Cambridge. 探花直播day also offers a chance to interact with scientists from across the 探花直播 working on plant-based solutions to global problems.

Professor Beverley Glover, Director of the Botanic Garden says: "This is the fourth year we鈥檙e holding the Festival of Plants. It鈥檚 an important day for the Garden where we bring the wonders of the plant world into focus. May is one of the most promising and beautiful months of the year to visit British gardens 鈥� the spring tulips are still out, joined by irises and the early summer flowers, creating a crescendo of colour as the days become longer and the temperatures begin to climb. 探花直播探花直播 Botanic Garden, here in the heart of Cambridge, is no exception, and in spring we particularly celebrate our flowering trees as well as our herbaceous plants.

However, the Botanic Garden is not just about the beauty of plants; it is an important focus for plant science research, particularly in Cambridge, but also around the world. 探花直播Garden鈥檚 collection of 8000 species is used by researchers investigating how plants work, how they evolved, how they are related to each other, and how they can be used to address global problems as challenging as food security and climate change. Some of the species we grow are the focus of conservation projects because they are so rare while some are the focus of projects to extend the range and yield of important crops."

Botanic gardens and plant scientists play a crucial role in addressing the global concerns the world faces today.

Beverley continues: " 探花直播first two decades of the 21st century have been marked by a growing realisation that only scientific research, and particularly research focused on the plants we depend on for food and shelter, can tackle the global problems that face mankind. These issues were brought to public attention in 2009 when Professor John Beddington, then the UK government's chief scientific advisor, talked of a "perfect storm" resulting from shortages of food, energy and water. Botanic gardens are in the unique position of being able to supply researchers with access to an enormous diversity of plant species, and it is both a privilege and a challenge to support scientific research that aims to solve these problems."

Events will include free garden tours, drop-in talk throughout the day, the Cambridge Orchid Society Annual Show, and a聽Pop-up Science Marquee on the Main Lawn, where groups from the 探花直播鈥檚 Plant Science department, Sainsbury Laboratory, Global Food Security, Natural Material Group and others demonstrate and explain the wonders of plants with hands on experiments and interactive games designed to highlight how world-leading research can help address global challenges.

You can find an interactive map of the Botanic Garden and the Festival of Plants events here.

Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden is holding its annual Festival of Plants on聽Saturday 14 May 2016, offering something for everyone to enjoy: from families to photographers, gardeners to budding plant scientists or anyone looking for an interesting day out in beautiful surroundings.

May is one of the most promising and beautiful months of the year to visit British gardens 鈥� the spring tulips are still out, joined by irises and the early summer flowers, creating a crescendo of colour

Beverley Glover

Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden

Festival of Plants

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Low-impact hub generates electrical current from pure plant power

lw355 — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 09:00:52 +0000

A prototype 鈥済reen bus shelter鈥� that could eventually generate enough electricity to light itself, has been built by a collaboration of 探花直播 of Cambridge researchers and eco-companies.

探花直播ongoing living experiment, hosted by the Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden and open to the visiting public, is incorporated in a distinct wooden hub, designed by architects MCMM to resemble a structure like a bus shelter. Eight vertical green wall units 鈥� created by green wall specialists, Scotscape 鈥� are housed along with four semi-transparent solar panels and two flexible solar panels provided by Polysolar.

探花直播hub has specially adapted vertical green walls that harvest electrons naturally produced as a by-product of photosynthesis and metabolic activity, and convert them into electrical current. It is the brainchild of Professor Christopher Howe and Dr Paolo Bombelli of the Department of Biochemistry. Their previous experiments resulted in a device able to power a radio using the current generated by moss.

探花直播thin-film solar panels turn light into electricity by using mainly the blue and green radiation of the solar spectrum.聽Plants grow behind the solar glass, 鈥榮haring the light鈥� by utilising the red spectrum radiation needed for photosynthesis, while avoiding the scorching effect of UV light. 探花直播plants generate electrical currents as a consequence of photosynthesis and metabolic activity during the day and night.

鈥淚deally you can have the solar panels generating during the day, and the biological system at night. To address the world鈥檚 energy needs, we need a portfolio of many different technologies, and it鈥檚 even better if these technologies can operate in synergy,鈥� said Bombelli.

探花直播structure of the hub allows different combinations of the photovoltaic and biological systems to be tested. On the north east aspect of the hub, plants receive light directly, without being exposed to too much direct sun. On the south west orientation, a green wall panel is housed behind a semi-transparent solar panel so that the effect on the plants and their ability to generate current can be monitored. Next to that, in the same orientation, a single solar panel stands alone, and two further panels are also mounted on the roof.

鈥� 探花直播combination of horticulture with renewable energy production constitutes a powerful solution to food and resource shortages on an increasingly populated planet,鈥� explained Joanna Slota-Newson from Polysolar. 鈥淲e build our semi-transparent solar panels into greenhouses, producing electrical energy from the sun which can in turn be used to power irrigation pumps or artificial lighting, while offering a controlled environment to improve agricultural yields.聽In this collaboration with Cambridge 探花直播, the public can experience the plants鈥� healthy growth behind Polysolar panels.鈥�

探花直播green wall panels in the hub are made from a synthetic material containing pockets, each holding a litre of soil and several plants. 探花直播pockets are fitted with a lining of carbon fibre on the back, which acts as an anode to receive electrons from the metabolism of plants and bacteria in the soil, and a carbon/catalyst plate on the front which acts as a cathode.聽

When a plant photosynthesises, energy from the sun is used to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds that the plant needs to grow. Some of the compounds 鈥� such as carbohydrates, proteins and lipids 鈥� are leached into the soil where they are broken down by bacteria, which in turn release by-products, including electrons, as part of the process.

Electrons have a negative charge so, when they are generated, protons (with a positive charge) are also created. When the anode and cathode are connected to each other by a wire acting as an external circuit, the negative charges migrate between those two electrodes. Simultaneously, the positive charges migrate from the anodic region to the cathode through a wet system, in this case the soil. 探花直播cathode contains a catalyst that enables the electrons, protons and atmospheric oxygen to recombine to form water, thus completing the circuit and permitting an electrical current to be generated in the external circuit.

探花直播P2P hub therefore generates electrical current from the combination of biological and physical elements. Each element of the hub is monitored separately, and members of the public can track the findings in real time, at a dedicated website and on a computer embedded in the hub itself.

Margherita Cesca, Senior Architect and Director of MCMM Architettura, the hub鈥檚 designer, is pleased that it has garnered so much interest. 鈥淭his prototype is intended to inspire the imagination, and encourage people to consider what could be achieved with these pioneering technologies. 探花直播challenging design incorporates and showcases green wall and solar panels as well as glass, creating an interesting element which sits beautifully within Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden,鈥� she said.

Bombelli added: 鈥� 探花直播long-term aim of the P2P solar hub research is to develop a range of self-powered sustainable buildings for multi-purpose use all over the world, from bus stops to refugee shelters.鈥�

探花直播P2P project was supported by a Partnership Development Award grant from the 探花直播鈥檚 EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account.

P2P is an outreach activity developed under the umbrella of the BPV (BioPhotoVoltaic) project working in collaboration with green technology companies including MCMM, Polysolar and Scotscape. 探花直播BPV project includes scientists from the Departments of Biochemistry, Plant Sciences, Physics and Chemistry at the 探花直播 of Cambridge, together with the 探花直播 of Edinburgh, Imperial College London and the 探花直播 of Cape Town.

Green wall technology and semi-transparent solar panels have been combined to generate electrical current from a renewable source of energy both day and night.

This prototype is intended to inspire the imagination, and encourage people to consider what could be achieved with these pioneering technologies

Margherita Cesca, MCMM Architettura

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page. For image rights, please see the credits associated with each individual image.

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Researchers show how plants tell the time

sj387 — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Plants, like animals, have a 24 hour 'body-clock' known as the circadian rhythm. This biological timer gives plants an innate ability to measure time, even when there is no light - they don鈥檛 simply respond to sunrise, for example, they know it is coming and adjust their biology accordingly.聽 This ability to keep time provides an important competitive advantage and is vital in biological processes such as flowering, fragrance emission and leaf movement.

BBSRC-funded scientists from the 探花直播 of Cambridge Department of Plant Sciences, are studying how plants are able to set and maintain this internal clock. They have found that the sugars produced by plants are key to timekeeping.

Plants produce sugar via photosynthesis; it is their way of converting the sun鈥檚 energy into a usable chemical form needed for growth and function.

This new research has shown that these sugars also play a role in circadian rhythms. Researchers studied the effects of these sugars by monitoring seedlings in CO2-free air, to inhibit photosynthesis, and by growing genetically altered plants and monitoring their biology. 探花直播production of sugars was found to regulate key genes responsible for the 24 hour rhythm.

Dr Alex Webb, lead researcher at the 探花直播 of Cambridge, explains:聽鈥淥ur research shows that sugar levels within a plant play a vital role in synchronizing circadian rhythms with its surrounding environment. Inhibiting photosynthesis, for example, slowed the plants internal clock by between 2 and 3 hours.鈥�

探花直播research shows that photosynthesis has a profound effect on setting and maintaining robust circadian rhythms in Arabidopsis plants, demonstrating a critical role for metabolism in regulation of the circadian clock.

Dr Mike Haydon, who performed much of the research and is now at the 探花直播 of York added: 鈥� 探花直播accumulation of sugar within the plant provides a kind of feedback for the circadian cycle in plants 鈥� a bit like resetting a stopwatch. We think this might be a way of telling the plant that energy in the form of sugars is available to perform important metabolic tasks. This mirrors research that has previously shown that feeding times can influence the phase of peripheral clocks in animals.鈥�

Article credited to聽Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Plants use sugars to tell the time of day, according to research published in Nature today.

Our research shows that sugar levels within a plant play a vital role in synchronizing circadian rhythms with its surrounding environment

Alex Webb

Jucember

Arabidopsis Thaliana planted in Laboratory

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