News from the John Innes Centre

Professor Cathie Martin of The John Innes Centre has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for distinguished contributions to plant biology. This year 702 members have been awarded this honour by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. The Plant Cell [...]

For the red pigmentation to develop, blood oranges normally require a period of cold as they ripen. The only place to reliably grow them on a commercial scale is in the Sicilian area of Italy around Mount Etna. Here, the combination of sun and cold sunny days and warm nights provides ideal growing conditions. Scientists [...]

Plants and microbes produce a wide spectrum of natural products, which give them their huge range of colours, flavours and scents. These chemicals are used to repel pests, diseases or competitors or to attract pollinators, but for humans they represent a potential source of new medicines, flavourings, antimicrobials or other useful compounds. A major area [...]

Professor Cathie Martin’s contribution to science has been recognised by election to the membership of a leading European life sciences organisation, EMBO. Prof. Martin is one of 46 life scientists from 14 countries being acknowledged for their outstanding scientific contributions by awarding them life-long EMBO membership. Election to EMBO membership is recognition of the commitment [...]

As part of the Norfolk Food Festival, the John Innes Centre hosted The Great Norfolk Food Debate, on the issue of GM Foods and Farming. A GM crop trial currently being conducted in Norwich is aiming to establish if a GM potato resistant to late blight can be developed to reduce the amount of fungicide [...]

GM take-away: How to genetically modify a tomato, and other things we eat A take-away photographic exhibition, being launched at the British Science Festival in Bradford on Saturday 10th September, is aiming to demystify the process of genetic modification, to try to make the debate about this controversial subject more informed. The exhibition has been [...]

Gardeners could help maintain bumblebee populations by growing plants with red flowers or flowers with stripes along the veins, according to field observations of the common snapdragon, Antirrhinum majus, at the John Innes Centre in the UK. Bees are important pollinators of crops as well as the plants in our gardens. The John Innes Centre, [...]

John Innes Centre scientists are working on a way to screen crop plants for toxic accumulation. The genetic screen will be particularly useful for crops grown in tropical and sub-Saharan Africa. Many plants, in response to predators or herbivores, release hydrogen cyanide to defend themselves.  Cyanide precursors are kept in a compartment in the cell. [...]