All Soil & Plant Science articles – Page 4
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NewsAntibiotic resistant gene found in Australian soil
A new study reveals a hidden source of antibiotic resistance. The novel gene found in contaminated freshwater NSW sediment provides bacteria with resistance to polymyxin - a critical last line antibiotic, used when others stop working.
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NewsSix years of drought reshape soil microbiomes in tallgrass prairie, study finds
A new study tracking soil microbial communities across six years of experimental drought in a tallgrass prairie finds that prolonged water stress diminishes biodiversity, pushing communities toward less predictable, harder-to-reverse configurations.
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FeaturesSoil microbes and the hidden network connecting plants, animals, and humans
Coevolution has shaped Earth’s ecosystems for over a billion years. However, climate change and unprecedented anthropogenic activities have placed immense pressure on the soil ecosystem over the past few decades.
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NewsBiochar ‘switches on’ natural oxygen chemistry to suppress soil-borne pathogens and reshape healthier microbial communities
A new study reveals how specially prepared biochar can directly suppress a destructive soil-borne pathogen while helping rebuild a richer and more stable soil bacterial community.
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NewsBiochar and smarter water management could help make rice safer in polluted soils
A new study suggests that pairing iron and manganese modified biochar with carefully chosen irrigation strategies can reduce cadmium and mercury buildup in rice, offering a practical path toward safer food production in co-contaminated paddy fields.
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NewsUnder the Lens: Plant microbiomes could cut agriculture’s dependence on chemicals, says Davide Bulgarelli
Understanding the hidden microbial communities that surround plant roots could pave the way for more sustainable farming, according to award-winning plant microbiologist Dr Davide Bulgarelli in conversation with Professor Emmanuel Adukwu.
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NewsGentian receives carbon through mycorrhizal fungi in addition to photosynthesis
Researchers have found that Gentiana squarrosa Ledeb. is partially mycoheterotrophic. The plant not only produces carbon through photosynthesis but also receives carbon through underground fungal networks.
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NewsPlant DNA harbours virus ‘fossils’ that reflect 300 million years of evolution
New research shows that Caulimoviridae viruses have infected an extremely wide range of vascular plant hosts, from lycophytes to flowering plants, revealing the existence of 35 previously undescribed taxonomic clusters in Caulimoviridae.
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NewsNovel plasmid confers phosphorylation-driven streptomycin resistance in plant pathogen
The genetic basis underlying the unusually high-level streptomycin resistance observed in the field-derived strain TX-0702 of Clavibacter michiganensis has remined unknown until a new study identified a previously uncharacterized plasmid.
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NewsMeet EcoBOT: The autonomous lab standardizing plant-microbe research
Berkeley Lab’s new “self-driving” laboratory, EcoBOT, automates complex plant experiments to eliminate human error, solve biology’s replication crisis, and accelerate bioenergy research.
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NewsRice-grown chaga reveals genes behind valuable triterpenoids
New study links triterpenoid accumulation in Inonotus obliquus with rising expression of key biosynthetic genes, providing a genetic foundation for future work to improve sustainable production of Chaga-derived compounds.
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NewsBreakthrough study could unlock key to more reliable truffle cultivation
A pioneering study has revealed that growing truffles depends not just on soil conditions, but on a complex underground ecosystem that the truffles may help to engineer themselves.
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NewsDrone index tracks wheat mildew
A new study addresses the need for rapid, field-scale monitoring of wheat powdery mildew in smallholder farms, where disease spread can be spatially uneven and difficult to capture through manual scouting alone.
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NewsExtreme droughts in the rainforest reduce important feedback between soil and atmosphere
The El Niño drought and heat suppress the capacity of the Amazon rainforest soil to absorb isoprene by a factor of four, while boosting its amount around the forest canopy.
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NewsMicrobe–fertilizer pair cuts greenhouse soil emissions
A new study shows that inoculating organic fertilizers with denitrifying bacterium, especially when paired with mushroom residue organic manure, reduces N₂O emissions by reshaping the soil microbiome.
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NewsBiochar helps paddy soils lock away carbon by reshaping microbial life underground
A new study reveals that straw and biochar both increase soil organic carbon, but biochar stores carbon more efficiently by guiding soil microbes toward stable carbon formation.
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NewsTiny DNA ‘hitchhikers’ may be reshaping life in thawing Arctic soils
A new study in the peatlands of northern Sweden provides one of the clearest pictures yet of how frequently microbes swap, gain and lose genes in nature. The study establishes a new framework for measuring genetic mobility in natural environments.
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NewsWidespread saprotrophs identified as the hidden engine of soil carbon decomposition
A nationwide study across China reveals that broad geographic distribution, rather than local diversity alone, determines which soil fungi actively fuel carbon decomposition and shape future carbon dynamics under climate change.
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NewsRice-crayfish farming strengthens soil nutrient cycling
Using metagenomic sequencing, a study has shown that integrated rice-crayfish systems increase the abundance of functional genes involved in methane oxidation, nitrogen degradation, denitrification, organic phosphorus mineralization, and phosphorus transport compared with rice monoculture. Source: Brian Tomlinson from Milton Keynes, UK Crayfish. The paddy planting area within ...
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NewsSoil moisture tips the balance of nitrogen cycling
A new study reveals that nitrite accumulation is not simply a chemical outcome, but the result of mismatched microbial activities between ammonia oxidizers and nitrite oxidizers.