Beginning this week we have a new contributor to GreenSeedling, Houdah Abualtin! More information in the About page.

Top News Stories:
Auto Immune Response Creates Barrier To Fertility; Could Be A Step In Speciation - Jeff Dangl and Kirsten Bomblies have discovered, quite by accident, a lethal auto-immune disorder in plants that results not from an inherited genetic mutation or infection - but from a “bad luck” combination of genes donated by the parent plants. This may have implications for understanding how speciation occurs in a population. Plants that can’t reproduce and give rise to viable offspring may be progenitors of two different species. This finding may also inform our understanding fertility issues in animals, including humans. Published in Sept. 4, 2007 issue of PLoS Biology.

How Plants Regulate Ripening And Decay -Ethylene is a plant hormone responsible for fruit ripening and decay. Scientists have known that the protein ETR2 is the ethylene receptor in plants. A recent paper now reports that ETR2 is recycled soon after it binds ethylene to regulate the ethylene response. Published in the The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Ecology:
Extinct flower makes a surprising comeback!
Trees from the Brazilian Atlantic forest may be the key to the forest’s regeneration.

Climate Change:
Birch Trees To Edge Out Aspens In Warming World - It’s a tree outgrow tree world. Birches and Aspens are now competing for soil nutrients due to the sharp rise in carbon dioxide.
Eating Less Meat May Slow Climate Change - Being vegetarian never looked so good. Animals raised for human consumption are fed low quality grains, which leads to increased methane flatulence. Furthermore, the increase of methane gas aids in heating the atmosphere and possibly, global warming. More broccoli, anyone? Published in The Lancet.
Urban Renewal, the Philly Orchard Project Way - Once seen as rundown lots, vacant land and factories around Philadelphia are receiving a makeover as the city makes a bold attempt to be “the first American metropolis to grow most of its own food.” This could be the start of a new growing revolution.

Agriculture:
Water efficient rice created through the use of the HARDY gene could change the face of world hunger

Health:
Mediterranean diet extends life in Alzheimer’s patients - Veggies save the day again. Research shows that sticking to a Mediterranean diet of mostly vegetables and some meat can slow the progress of the memory loss disease known as Alzheimer’s. I’ll have more zucchini, please. Published in Neurology, Sept. 11