Optimal packing problems have inspired mathematicians for centuries. Biophysicists now add a layer to the question: How do ...

A plant cell wall's unique ability to expand without weakening or breaking is due to the movement of its cellulose skeleton, according to new research that models the cell wall. The new study presents ...

For the first time, high-resolution time-lapse videos of tiny bits of living plants show how they assemble their protective cell walls, researchers report March 21 in Science Advances. The image ...

Plant cells are surrounded by an intricately structured protective coat called the cell wall. It’s built of cellulose microfibrils intertwined with polysaccharides like hemicellulose or pectin. We ...

Directed evolution is a laboratory technique that mimics natural selection and allows scientists to evolve genes and the proteins they encode. Traditionally, this technique has been used in microbes, ...

New research has demonstrated that extracts from plant cell walls can be used to develop sustainable treatments to protect against crop diseases. Crop diseases can be completely devastating in ...

Researchers from Nara Institute of Science and Technology find that an anchoring complex stabilizes microtubule creation sites within plant cells, then recruits katanin - named after the katana sword ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- The “deathbed rally,” the “last hurrah” -- it’s not unheard of for living things to mysteriously perk up in the moments before death. It turns out that plants do it too, at least at ...