Discoveries
Plant Biology
Plant Biology
To match human population growth, world agricultural production must double over the next quarter century. At Salk, we study plants so that humans will have the food, clothing, energy and medicines they need now and in the future.

Plant Biology

PLOS Genetics
01/2019

New technologies enable better-than-ever details on genetically modified plants

Professor Joseph Ecker, along with co-first authors Florian Jupe, Angeline Rivkin, Mark Zander and Todd Michael (of the J. Craig Venter Institute) and colleagues mapped the genomes and epigenomes of genetically modified plant lines with high resolution to show what happens at a molecular level when a piece of foreign DNA is inserted. Their findings not only elucidate the routine methods used to modify plants but also offer new ways to minimize potential off-target effects.

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PNAS
10/2018

To repair DNA damage, plants need good contractors

Associate Professor Julie Law and first author Clara Bourbousse showed which genes are turned on or off, and in which order, to protect and repair the genome in response to DNA damage.

The research reveals the genetic framework controlling a complex biological process that has broad implications for understanding how plants in particular, and organisms in general, cope with DNA damage to ensure long-term health and fitness.

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