Plants grow stems, leaves and petals in a perfect pattern again and again. A new Cornell study shows that even in this precise, patterned formation in plants, gene activity inside individual cells is far more chaotic than it appears from the outside. While individual cells behave inconsistently, groups of cells work together to smooth out the noise, creating a stable, collective signal that the plant can use to guide development.  “The organism can use this randomness when it wants to and ignore it when it doesn’t,” said Adrienne Roeder, professor in the Plant Biology Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science. “That’s super powerful.”

While a staple in much of sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, most maize varieties fall dangerously short in key nutrients like vitamin A and vitamin E.  Rather than engineer a solution in the lab, Michael Gore, professor in Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, turned to maize itself.  Over 15 years, Gore's lab "scanned thousands of maize varieties from around the globe. Using high-resolution mapping and advanced gene sequencing, they uncovered rare but powerful variants that naturally produce higher levels of beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A. Some of these maize lines, bright orange and brimming with nutrients, are now growing in Zambian fields through collaborations with HarvestPlus and CIMMYT," reports SeedWorld. “We didn’t need to invent a miracle,” Gore said. “We just had to listen to what maize already knew.”

Researchers at Cornell have discovered a new grape downy mildew resistance gene – giving the wine and grape industry a powerful new tool to combat this devastating disease. “Of the downy mildew resistance genes found in the world to date, this is one of the strongest,” said Lance Cadle-Davidson, adjunct professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a research plant pathologist with the USDA’s Grape Genetics Research Unit in Geneva. “The discovery could help breeders develop more resistant grape varieties.”

Imagine if a plant in a farmer’s field could warn a grower that it needs water? Or if a farmer could signal to plants that dry weather lies ahead. Margaret Frank, associate professor in the Plant Biology Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science, is one of the collaborators advancing our understanding of such two-way communication with plants through the efforts of the Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS), which is funded by a five-year, $25 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.