Biology Botany

The 12th Starch Value Chain ASIA conference was held in Vientiane, at Crowne Plaza Hotel, from February 27 to 29, 2024. The conference encompassed four key themes: Asia’s starch markets, industrial and food-grade tapioca starch in Laos with expansion plans, sustainable climate-smart agri-technology for rice and cassava cultivation, and challenges for future growth in Asia's biogas-to-energy sector.

The effects of a phenomenon called tree masting on ecosystems and food webs can be better understood thanks to new theoretical models validated by real world observations.

Japanese fossil forest found, AI finds a way to people’s hearts, Language diversity and child social development & Supplement for kidney disease. Plus Submissions open for Asia Research News 2024. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.

An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene epoch.

A research group led by Osaka University has found that plant cells may be able to detect mechanical forces to determine their own position within the leaf—whether they are on the surface or in the inner tissues—and therefore differentiate into appropriate cell types after damage. These findings reveal how plants regenerate the correct type of tissues when damaged, and may improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the high regeneration potential of plants.

Insights into their diversity will help to understand and protect them and their natural environment.

A team of Japanese researchers created a high-quality genome assembly of red perilla, a step toward harnessing the plant’s potentially useful bioactive chemicals — and its medicinal properties.

Plastic sheets coated with an Eu3+ film that converts UV light to red light were able to accelerate growth of vegetal plants and trees.

Published in 1693, Hortus Indicus Malabaricus offers a glimpse into the history of medical and natural sciences of South Asia.

Giants in History: Archana Sharma (16 February 1932 - 14 January 2008) conducted research into plant and human genetics that expanded the understanding of both botany and human health.

Scientists have revealed two enzymes that regulate protein degradation of proteins in the cell membrane of plants, and established the roles they play in plant growth and development.

Giants in History: Ground-breaking cancer researcher Kamal Jayasing Ranadive (8 November 1917 – 11 April 2001) advanced the understanding of the causes of leukaemia, breast cancer and oesophageal cancer through the use of animal models.

Giants in History: Woo Jang-choon (8 April 1898 – 10 August 1959) was a Korean-Japanese agricultural scientist and botanist. Woo performed horticultural research, first in Japan, then in Korea.

Giants in History: Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann (23 November 1937 – 4 September 2005) was a Filipino-American scientist whose research focused on cyanobacteria and microorganisms that inhabit extreme environments.

Researchers in Malaysia are using the chemistry of natural products for sustainable health and energy solutions.

Scientists from Hokkaido University and colleagues have identified a pathway that accelerates plant flowering in low-nitrogen soils — a finding that could help enhance agricultural production.

Rice has long been a staple food for more than half the global population. The United Nations even declared 2004 the International Year of Rice to raise awareness and encourage action to protect and advance the crop for a rapidly growing population. The genetic guidance rice uses to grow and reproduce, however, is still not fully understood. Now, a research team based in Japan is learning more, including how critical one gene is for the plant to develop grains of rice, which serve as both seeds and food.

Giants in History: Rapee Sagarik (4 December 1922 – 17 February 2018) was Thailand’s renowned expert on orchids. Sagarik dedicated his career to the research of native orchids in Thailand.

Giants in History: Chinese agronomist Yuan Longping (7 September 1930 – 22 May 2021) developed the first varieties of the high-yield, hybrid rice that brought food security to multiple countries including China, which had been ravaged by food shortages as recently as the mid-20th century.

Scientists from Japan, Europe and the USA have described a pathway leading to the accelerated flowering of plants in low-nitrogen soils. These findings could eventually lead to increases in agricultural production.

Living beings need elements to develop properly. The study of ionomics measures and analyses the element accumulations in living organisms to determine which mineral nutrients are required and not required for growth. Associate Professor Toshihiro Watanabe from Hokkaido University’s Research Faculty of Agriculture applies this approach to learn about mineral accumulation in both plants and soil, in addition to inter-element interactions.

Scientists at Hokkaido University and Chiba University have developed simultaneous triploid and hexaploid varieties of Haemanthus albiflos by the application of endosperm culture, thus extending the use of this technique.

A team of scientists from Hokkaido University has suggested that marimo maintain their characteristic spherical shape due to the rarity of the formation of reproductive cells.

Environmental changes trigger tiny RNA segments to modify plant pores involved in photosynthesis.

A research team from the Centre for Genomic Studies on Plant-Environment Interaction for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security recently found that some non-coding RNA can produce very short proteins (small peptides), which play an important role in regulating organismal development and stress resistances. The findings challenge the very definition of non-coding RNAs and may open a new research path for future drug and crop improvement. The research article has been published in the journal Plant Physiology. (See note)

Jellyfish are animals that possess the unique ability to regenerate body parts. A team of Japanese scientists has now revealed the cellular mechanisms that give jellyfish these remarkable "superpowers."

The leaf shapes of certain species of the Isodon group of flowering plants act as deterrents against a leaf-rolling weevil, according to a paper published in Nature Plants.

An analysis of the chemical signals sent out by rice plants under attack by the brown planthopper could help in the natural control of this insect pest.

Desert bacteria protect food crops from salt toxicity.

Discovery of a hypersensitive suicide germination stimulant.