News

Venkatesan Sundaresan, a Distinguished Professor of plant biology and plant sciences at the University of California, Davis, has been awarded a Gates Foundation grant to develop self-cloning crops for Indian farmers.

Two College of Biological Sciences faculty members—Keith Baar, professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior, and Laura Bogar, assistant professor of plant biology—received a STAIR Grant and a Hellman Fellowship, respectively.

Two researchers at the University of California, Davis have been awarded a VinFuture Prize in recognition of their work developing self-cloning crops, a breakthrough for sustainable agriculture.

Sebastian Smith is making less of a career pivot than a total revamp. At age 48, he is getting his B.S., with the goal of earning  a doctorate and becoming a scientific researcher. Just three years ago, he was retiring after a 20-year career in the Air Force.

Mutations drive evolution, but they can also be risky. New research led by plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, published Nov. 10 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals how plants control mutation rates in different stem cells to balance adaptability with safety and stability. The findings have implications for breeding some of the world’s most important fruit and vegetable crops, such as potatoes and bananas.

Plants produce thousands of chemical compounds that help them attract friends and deter foes. Many of these compounds, or “metabolites,” have been harnessed by humans in fragrances, medicines, and biofuels.

Houseplant aficionados, start your engines! More than 60 species of tropical plants—including some rare species, carnivorous plants, succulents, and more—will be on offer on Saturday, April 19 from 10:00am until 2:00pm at bargain prices, as the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory resumes its highly popular plant sales.

A battle around the world is raging between plants and the changing environment, and UC Davis researchers are on the front lines.

For example, the microbes are constantly creating new types of illnesses, while the plants — sometimes with the help of breeders — are developing new immunities.

It’s something plant geneticist Luca Comai, Ph.D. ’80, a distinguished professor of plant biology, has seen firsthand through his decades of research into plant chromosomes.

Each year, nearly 30 million Americans purchase a real tree for the holidays. Growing the perfect Christmas tree takes about seven years, during which farmers need to keep insects, fungal pathogens and hungry deer at bay. While researchers suspect the distinctive piney smell the trees emit plays a role in deterring these pests, not all trees smell the same, and which chemical blends confer resistance is unclear.

Rice is a staple food crop for more than half the world’s population, but most farmers don’t grow high-yielding varieties because the seeds are too expensive. Researchers from the University of California’s Davis and Berkeley campuses have identified a potential solution: activating two genes in rice egg cells that trigger their development into embryos without the need for fertilization, which would efficiently create high-yielding clonal strains of rice and other crops.