beet in Biological News

Sugar beet virus mutation requires Texas touch

The only sugar beets growing in Texas are in the laboratory. But those few plants are getting to the root of problems throughout the sugar beet industry. The sugar beet industry moved out of Texas in 1997 after the close of the processing plant at Hereford. But the growing research program withi...

Genome sequencing of fungus with biotechnological applications

...lose contained within. These results are important for designing processes using wood to produce bioethanol. For the production of biofuel cereals, beet and other crops (first-generation fuels) have been used as raw material. Nevertheless, the controversies generated by this derived use of food product...

Honeybees as plant 'bodyguards'

...with bees and caterpillars in comparison to those in a tent with caterpillars alone. The amount of leaf damage was less on fruit-bearing plants as the beet armyworm caterpillars moved into the maturing peppers, they report. "Our findings indicate for the first time that visiting honeybees provide plant...

Plants tell caterpillars when it's safe to forage

...l PLoS Biology, Kaori Shiojiri, Rika Ozawa, and Junji Takabayashi show that plant signals can indeed regulate herbivore behavior. When the larvae of beet armyworms ( Spodoptera exigua ) feed on corn, the plant releases volatile compounds that act as a magnet for parasitic wasps ( Cotesia marginiventris ...