News from the John Innes Centre

Research rooted in Norwich science has revealed how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the John Innes Centre (JIC), now at the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, set out to identify the effects that the first [...]

The John Innes Centre is pleased to announce an exclusive commercial license agreement for technology that enhances the root systems of plants and with important implications for crop improvement. JIC’s technology management company Plant Bioscience Limited (PBL) is licensing the technology to Dow AgroSciences. Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company [...]

Scientists from the John Innes Centre and the University of Oxford have discovered which genes control the specialized nutrient mining machine that develops on the surface of plant roots. Root hairs develop on roots and burrow into the soil releasing acids and other scouring chemicals that crack open rocky minerals releasing valuable nutrients such as [...]

The John Innes Centre’s excellence in plant science has helped in the production of a new textbook for students.  ‘Plant Biology’, published by Garland Science, is an account of modern plant science, reflecting recent advances in genetics and genomics and the excitement they have created. The textbook, for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, was written [...]

Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have discovered how roots find their way past obstacles to grow through soil. The discovery, described in the journal Science, also explains how germinating seedlings penetrate the soil without pushing themselves out as they burrow. “The key is in the fuzzy coat of hairs on the roots [...]