Protecting plants

Protecting the Environment with Plants

• excavating and removing all contaminated soil and disposing of the soil in an environmentally sound manner; • covering the site with a blanket of uncontaminated soil and installing a runoff control and drainage system to limit the potential contamination of surface water or groundwater; • other in-situ treatment methods that involve complex physical and/or chemical neutralization or extractio...

Ribozyme genes protecting transgenic melon plants against potyviruses.

Potyviruses are the most important viral pathogens of crops worldwide. Under a contract with Gene Shears Pty Limited, we are using ribozyme genes to protect melon plants against two potyviruses: WMV2 and ZYMV. Different polyribozyme genes were designed, built and introduced into melons plants. Transgenic melon plants containing a resistance gene were obtained and their progeny was challenged by...

Relative Efficiency of Roots and Tops of Plants in Protecting the Soil from Erosion.

Patentability of Plants: At the Crossroads between Monopolizing Nature and Protecting Technological Innovation?

This article provides an in-depth critical analysis of pressing issues regarding the patentability of plants. There is no public interest overarching principle present in the European Patent Convention or any other convention for that matter which would exclude patent protection for plants. The expansionist behavior of some users of the patent system seeking to obtain patent protection for meth...

The role of endophyte diversity in protecting plants from defoliation by leaf-cutting ants

Plants host a vast diversity of fungal symbionts inside their tissues that live in close proximity with each other to form rich and dynamic communities. Although endophytes can affect plant–herbivore interactions in several ways, it is still not known to what extent such effects are influenced by the properties of endophyte communities or by particular species traits. Here we compared the effec...