Protein shows how plants keep their mouths shut
Thursday, October 28, 2010 - 10:30
in Biology & Nature
Using intense beams of x-rays at the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, researchers have uncovered the atomic structure of a protein responsible for closing the mouths, or stomata, of plants. These molecular photographs could help scientists understand how plants will respond to environmental changes facing our planet, such as drought and escalating levels of carbon dioxide and ozone. The study, led by researchers at Columbia University and the New York Structural Biology Center, is published in the October 28, 2010, issue of the journal Nature.