Auxin is an essential plant hormone and according to research at the John Innes Centre, it’s full of surprises

Detailed exploration of ant nests in the thorny acacia trees in Kenya have revealed a new species of bacteria called, Streptomyces formicae KY5

Discover our top 5 blogs from 2018.

Plants may appear peaceful, but beneath their calm exterior, they’re locked in continuous and ever-changing chemical warfare.

Plants and fungi are very often tangled together in nature. They are either friends (forming mutually beneficial partnerships) or foes (plant defence vs pathogenic fungi).

We have known about the effects of β-ODAP (or to give it its full name; β-L-oxalyl-2,3-diaminopropionic acid) for a lot longer than we have known the molecule.

What is starch? Where does starch come from? What do we use starch for and why are we studying it at the John Innes Centre?

“Now the holly bears a berry, as blood is it red…”

The smell of the soil was first investigated in 1891 but the main compound that caused it was not isolated until 1965 by Gerber and Lechevalier, who named it “geosmin”