Arabidopsis

Embryo-to-endosperm peptide signal found; boosting it made a crop's seeds bigger

Researchers at The Sainsbury Laboratory and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon have shown that the PIPL7 peptide made by the embryo is the long-sought ligand of the IKU2 seed-size receptor in the endosperm; raising PIPL7 expression produced larger seeds in a crop proof of concept, and a patent has