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alien plants

27.10.2018

The symbiosis of fungi and plant roots is able to withstand extreme conditions of low gravity and exist in soil that is practically devoid of organic matter.

Scientists from the University of Zurich were puzzled by the question that worried Mark Watney's character in the film "The Martian" when he invented ways to grow potatoes in the conditions of Mars. As a result, experts have created the most real "alien" plants. On Earth, flora grows in fertile soil, enriched with organic matter, and is also adapted to Earth's gravity. Under the conditions of other planets, terrestrial plants simply will not survive, but scientists are solving this problem.

Two factors - low gravity and soil without organic matter - prevent the cultivation of plants on other planets. But the symbiosis between soil fungi and plant roots, regulated by the release of the hormone strigolactone, the properties of which scientists have carefully studied and strengthened, made it possible to breed petunias that can exist even in poor organic soil and in microgravity conditions.

Petunias belong to the nightshade family, which also includes edible crops: eggplant, tomatoes and potatoes. Supported by the release of the hormone, fungi imitate soil organic matter, and the plant is able to extract phosphates, nitrogen and water necessary for growth from the ground faster and more. It is these "alien" varieties that in the future will become the basis for agriculture on Mars and other planets, as well as on spacecraft.

Such modified plants will also be able to increase yields on Earth, as well as reduce the greenhouse effect, but their properties must still be fully investigated before global implementation.

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A useful variety of corn for popcorn has been developed 23.11.2022

Scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a high-protein popcorn variety. It has a good effect on bowel function and improves health.

Experiments began thirty years ago when researchers successfully inserted a variant of the opaque-2 gene into the maize genome. This made it possible to obtain a variety rich in lysine.

Lysine is used in countries where people are suffering from hunger. But this gene changed the structure of corn grains so much that it was impossible to extract popcorn from it. Now everything has changed.

Scientists have discovered fragments of the corn genome responsible for the characteristic popcorn texture. Over the course of several generations of maize, they crossed carriers of these genes with other varieties.

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