Grass does not need to trim

Imagine your lawn is always green and never cuts. The Salk Biological Research Institute is aiming for this, with scientists creating a map of hormone signaling processes that regulate plant height.

" By controlling this process, we believe that we can control the productivity and height of plants, " said Joanne Chory, a member of the research team.

Chory and colleagues studied a family of plant hormones called brassinosteroid.

" Without them, plants are just dwarf plants, with tiny veins and roots, not reproducible ," Chory explained.

These hormones control cell growth. The team thinks that rearranging hormone sequences can force plants to grow in some way.

" We can weed out and keep them green by limiting brassinosteroid or increasing rice production by adding brassinosteroid in the grain, " Chory said.

For centuries, humans have controlled the size and other characteristics of plants by choosing varieties. Controlling hormones opens up a modern solution for further achievements.

T. An