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A 180-year-old ‘law’ in zoology has found its best support so far in a study of floral colour, which not only documents darker plants growing closer to the equator, but also supports the idea that the colour stems from ultraviolet protection.
Sequencing ancient DNA from archaeological samples reveals both how maize was transported through North America, and the shifting genomic patterns in response to selection for drought tolerance and sugar content.
Rubisco catalyses the first step in photosynthetic carbon fixation, but it can be easily poisoned by side-products of its activity. Structural and functional analyses of a protein conserved across plants, algae and bacteria shows how one such blockage is both removed and recycled.
Ascorbate is synthesized in mitochondria but needed in chloroplasts. Identification of a transporter bridging the chloroplast envelope membranes that separate cell cytoplasm from chloroplast stroma reveals a connection between ascorbate transport and cellular redox homeostasis.
