Top-Performing Soil Microbes Could Be Key to Sustainable Agriculture
August 2018 - UCR research will help agronomists breed plants that attract their own growth-promoting microbes. In a study published today in New Phytologist, Sachs’ team has advanced our understanding of how plant genetics and environmental factors affect microbial soil populations in the field. The paper’s first author is Camille Wendlandt, a graduate student in Sachs’ research group. Read more
Sue Wessler Co-chairs Major Report On Advancing Science in Food, Agriculture
July 2018 - Professor Wessler, Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
Neil A and Rochelle A Campbell Presidential Chair for Innovation in Science Education, co-chaired the report recently released by the National Academies Press: Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030. Read more
Pest-monitoring Device Enters into Field Trials
July 2018 - The technology invented by engineers at UC Riverside could reduce pesticide use and crop loss. FlightSensor is a real-time, cloud-based insect monitoring platform which detects, classifies, and quantifies insects. When this information is integrated with crop and environmental information, farmers know where both beneficial and pest insects are in space and time. They can manage pesticides more judiciously, saving money and reducing crop loss. If widely adopted, FarmSense could reduce or prevent pesticide resistance in insect populations. It can also monitor disease in human and animal populations and reduce stress in farm animals caused by insects. The technology has biosecurity applications— it can help governments detect and trigger early interventions to prevent invasive insects from naturalizing. Read more
Environmental Threats Put Bumblebee Queens Under Pressure
June 2018 - Insecticide exposure and declining floral diversity are jeopardizing key pollinator group. In a study published in June 2018 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers at the University of California, Riverside found that environmental threats are piling onto the stress faced by nest-building bumblebee queens. Led by Hollis Woodard, an assistant professor of entomology, the team found that exposure to a widely used insecticide and a poor diet negatively impacted bumblebee queens’ health and work, which could have dramatic consequences on an already dwindling pollinator group. Read more
Researchers Move Toward Understanding Deadly Citrus Disease
April 2018 - UCR study will aid the development of new strategies to combat huanglongbing. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have made an important step in understanding the molecular mechanism of huanglongbing (HLB), a destructive disease that is a serious threat to the citrus industry worldwide. In a paper published in April 2018 in Nature Communications, a team led by Wenbo Ma reported a significant breakthrough in understanding the disease mechanism of HLB. They discovered that the bacterium secretes a protein—called Sec-delivered effector 1 (SDE1)—that helps infect plants. SDE1 works by attacking specific proteases—called papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs)—that could otherwise help the citrus trees resist infection. Read more
What is the Value of a Tree?
Trees feature prominently in global culture. Iconic trees include the source of Newton’s apple, Buddha’s enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the sacred Tree of Life in mythologies around the world. Trees provide security and shelter and are valuable resources for sciences, health and technology. It’s frankly hard to imagine a world without trees. Clearly, trees are important, if not essential, to human culture.
A panel of knowledgeable speakers, spoke on February 21-23, 2017 about the importance of trees. This panel was made up of Ryan Berk, co-owner and founder of Parliament Chocolate in Redlands, CA, Associate Professor of Landscape Ecology Darrel Jenerette, and Deputy Director of the Armenia Tree Project (ATP) Jason Sohigian.
Read more about this event on The Highlander. If you missed the event, please watch the recording of the panel on February 21, 2017 below:
Bionic spinach plants engineered to detect explosives
MIT engineers have implanted spinach leaves with carbon nanotubes, resulting in a hybrid electronic system that they call “plant nanobionics” for detecting dangerous (and other) chemicals.
Strano is the senior author of the paper describing the nanobionic plants in the Oct. 31 issue of Nature Materials. The paper’s lead authors are Min Hao Wong, an MIT graduate student who has started a company called Plantea to further develop this technology, and Juan Pablo Giraldo, a former MIT postdoc who is now an assistant professor at the University of California at Riverside in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences.
To read more visit the UCR Today or MIT News website
“You can apply these techniques with any living plant,” says Strano, and that opens the door to novel ways for plants to pick up signals that tell of environmental pollution, and even drought.
Plants “know that there is going to be a drought long before we do,” he says. “They can detect small changes in the properties of soil and water potential. If we tap into those chemical signaling pathways, there is a wealth of information to access.”
Expanding pomegranate production
John Chater is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Riverside with a focus on pomegranate research. He is building on the work of his grandfather, S. John Chater, who was a maintenance worker at hospital but developed a cult following among rare fruit growers in California for developing new varieties of pomegranates.
To read more about John Chater visit: UCANR BlogRead the all story published in the Los Angeles Times on December 30th, 2016To see YouTube video presentation click on the picture