photoreceptor – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

It’s in the Genes: Research Pinpoints How Plants Know When to Flower

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Nature, Scienceandrew millar, arabidopsis, barley, benjamin to, biofuels, biology, circadian clock, factors, fkf1 protein, flowering locus t, flowering plants, know, mathematical model, molecular changes, molecular events, photoreceptor, plant, plants, prediction, protein, robert smith, sandra hines, scientists, sequence, shoot apex, sunlight, takato imaizumi, time keeping mechanism, university of edinburgh, university of washington, uw lab, wheat, when to flower, young hun song

Scientists believe they’ve pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants “know” when to flower.

Determining the proper time to flower, important if a plant is to reproduce successfully, involves a sequence of molecular events, a plant’s circadian clock and sunlight.

Understanding how flowering works in the simple plant used in this study – Arabidopsis – should lead to a better understanding of how the same genes work in more complex plants grown as crops such as rice, wheat and barley, according to Takato Imaizumi, a University of Washington assistant professor of biology and corresponding author of a paper in the May 25 issue of the journal Science. (more…)

Vision Improves Modestly in Patients after Human Embryonic Stem Cells Transplants

Researchers at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute and colleagues who successfully transplanted specialized retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the eyes of two legally blind patients report that the transplants appear safe and that both patients have experienced modest improvement in their vision.

The preliminary findings, published online Jan. 23 in the journal The Lancet, represent a milestone in the therapeutic use of stem cells and may pave the way for a new therapy to treat eye diseases, the researchers said. Because this is the first time physicians have applied the power of regenerative medicine to eye disease, the clinical trials are being watched closely by scientists, stem-cell therapy advocates and the public. (more…)

Tag Archives: photoreceptor

It’s in the Genes: Research Pinpoints How Plants Know When to Flower

Vision Improves Modestly in Patients after Human Embryonic Stem Cells Transplants