Welcome to Blackwell Plant Science

Blackwell Publishing is the world's premier publisher in the plant sciences, representing the very best in academic research and student learning. 

This website provides all those interested in Plant Science with an invaluable resource giving easy access to information on Blackwell books and journals, regular news features from Dr Dave Stevenson, changing 'spotlights' focused on one book and one journal, access to free content and trial journal subscriptions and fun stuff  including e-Cards, desktop downloads and a quarterly prize draw.

You can browse this subject by using the menu to the left, or you can access a number of popular features by using one of the following links:     

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PLANT SCIENCE subjects

Plant Science General, Introductions to Plant Science, Plant Diversity, Mycology, Phycology, Plant Pathology, Plant Physiology, More Subjects

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Dr Dave Stevenson provides news and commentary on various topics in plant science.

More Than Just Skin Deep
Plant tissues are organised into 3 distinct layers, L1-L3. L1 constitutes the epidermis, L2 the sub-epidermis and L3 the deep and vascular tissues. There has been considerable debate as to which of these drives plant growth over the last century. Research in Joanne Chory’s lab provides the answer through a clever series of experiments published in Nature (1). Beginning more than a decade ago, the brassinosteroid family of plant hormones were found through the discovery of dwarf mutants deficient in the production or sensing of the hormone. Brassinosteroids are produced in the L1 and L2 layers of Arabidopsis plants.
30 November 2007

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The Branches That Support the Trunk
Eighty percent of land plants form close symbiotic relationships with fungi. These are the hidden bonds that support plant growth – helping them get the nutrients needed for growth and reproduction. In return, plants transfer the product of photosynthesis – glucose – to nourish their microscopic partners. However, the process by which fungi establish these relationships and transfer nutrients to their larger cousins has remained a mystery. Writing in Nature, two reports clarify these aspects of this important biological relationship (1,2).
30 November 2007

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Life is a flower; Silence is its Fragrance
Writing in Science, Caroline Dean’s group illuminates a pathway that connects the regulation of flowering time and generic silencing in plants (1). Earlier studies had revealed a connection between the FWA flowering time locus and silencing (2,3); and more generally, the SUPERMAN locus and silencing (4). However, in both these instances the phenotype was a consequence of the gene expression change, not the reverse – as is true in this case. For example, in fwa plants, late flowering is mediated by epigenetic changes associated with hypomethylation of SINE DNA sequences that flank the gene. Dean’s group demonstrate that in the fca and fpa genetic backgrounds, changes in gene silencing are a consequence of the flowering-time mutations (1).
30 November 2007

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