“Given the untapped potential of the natural world, you might think governments and drug companies would be racing to save species and screen them for other such extraordinary powers. In fact, says James S. Miller, vice president for science at the New York Botanical Garden, “only a tiny percentage of the world’s plants have been screened,” and even those “have only been screened against a small fraction of the diseases for which they could be effective.” Instead, pharmacologically-active compounds developed over millions of years and found effective in the world’s harshest laboratory—nature—routinely vanish, as the species in which they evolved go extinct.”
—The New York Times - How Species Save Our Lives
Introducing the astonishing X-plants
As a person who has had their share of work with plant mutants, this is what goes on in my brain sometimes.
What if there are mutant plants in the X-Men universe? Or if the X-men had been plants themselves?
Kurt is totally a cabbage and Wolverine Arabidopsis thaliana,because he is the most known. I also think about Deadpool and what he would be like as a plant and I guess he would be the Yucca of my boss.
What am I doing here.
DNA testing by high school students shows many teas contain unlisted ingredients
newswire.rockefeller.eduThis is so cool! Three high school kids used DNA extraction technology that they bought on the internet to analyze the content of 25 teas purchased around New York City. They then sent some of the samples to the lab here at The New York Botanical Garden! The results are fascinating and important. Go kids!
Defining the core Arabidopsis thaliana root microbiome
nature.comLand plants associate with a root microbiota distinct from the complex microbial community present in surrounding soil. The microbiota colonizing the rhizosphere (immediately surrounding the root) and the endophytic compartment (within the root) contribute to plant growth, productivity, carbon sequestration and phytoremediation1, 2, 3. Colonization of the root occurs despite a sophisticated plant immune system4, 5, suggesting finely tuned discrimination of mutualists and commensals from pathogens. Genetic principles governing the derivation of host-specific endophyte communities from soil communities are poorly understood. Here we report the pyrosequencing of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene of more than 600 Arabidopsis thaliana plants to test the hypotheses that the root rhizosphere and endophytic compartment microbiota of plants grown under controlled conditions in natural soils are sufficiently dependent on the host to remain consistent across different soil types and developmental stages, and sufficiently dependent on host genotype to vary between inbred Arabidopsis accessions. We describe different bacterial communities in two geochemically distinct bulk soils and in rhizosphere and endophytic compartments prepared from roots grown in these soils. The communities in each compartment are strongly influenced by soil type. Endophytic compartments from both soils feature overlapping, low-complexity communities that are markedly enriched in Actinobacteria and specific families from other phyla, notably Proteobacteria. Some bacteria vary quantitatively between plants of different developmental stage and genotype. Our rigorous definition of an endophytic compartment microbiome should facilitate controlled dissection of plant–microbe interactions derived from complex soil communities.
cheesycheesygoodness
just to share:
a few weeks ago we had an assignment and it was to make impact with the kalanchoe plant we were given.
yada yada yada skip ahead to today
the teachers aide of our flower power class takes excerpts from some of hte submitted assignments to share with the class (which took up more than an hour aka half the class time, not that i minded)
anyyyyyyyywayys, two stories:
1. a guy in our pls6 class was thinking about proposing to his girlfriend, so he decides to go talk to the parents first to ask for permission. and after the parents agreed, he gave the potted kalanchoe plant to his future mother in law as a symbol of his dedication to the relationship and yadayada, insert cheesyness. and a couple days later he goes and actually proposes to his girlfriend. and after she says yes, she and her mom start crying. and as a gift, the mom gave the daughter the kalanchoe plant. and then they cry some moree. and since the plant has played such an important part in the beginning stages of their future together, it will also play a big role in their wedding ceremony: bouquet, hair, decorations, the whole shabang. how touchingly cheesyyyy.
2. another guy (why are all the good stories from guys in the class) decided he wanted to make impact on a stranger. but he didnt want to give just the plant away, instead he wrote a little rhyme to accompany the plant giving. after writing his rhyme, he camped out in the east quad looking for the perfect person to give it to. and lo and behold, in the sea of coupled off people sat a lone girl. and so he walked straight towards her. only he kept walking and walked straight past her since he chickened out the last second. after that he thought about it and thought that he has to get over this fear of rejection and do the assignment, so he turned around and walked up to the girl. as he started reciting his rhyme with kalanchoe in hand, the girl interrupts him and says that she has to go to class. he bashfully lets her go, but realizes taht rejection isnt too bad and that next time itll be more successful than this random encounter.
many more cheesy, heartfelt stories. those were just two.
p.s. i may have embellished a bit seeing as how i dont have perfect memoryy. excuse moi
Validation.
I never thought I would appreciate paying attention in class, but today it happened. My boss was talking with his soil nutritionist and IPM at lunch today and I knew what they were talking about. It was like when you’ve been learning a second language and them someone speaks it to you and you know what they’re telling you.
Happy to know that what my professors are teaching is practical shit for my future plans.
