Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
The autumnal colour magic of leaf senescence
Genetic engineering to remove a structure from plant cells called the Golgi body sheds light on how leaves change with the seasons, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
(L to R) The autumn senescence of grape leaves is programmed by the plant; A defoliation spray run by US Air Force in Vietnam in 1960 - programmed by humans [(L to R) Salem District Oregon Field Office - USAF both CC]

IN JANUARY this year, researchers reported in Nature Plants that they had managed to remove an object called the Golgi body in the cells of a plant.

This archaically named object is one of the strange complex things that fills the insides of plant cells. It is often described as looking like a stack of pancakes — albeit very small, transparent, and inside all the cells of any plant, or for that matter any animal too.

Advances in genetic engineering techniques mean that scientists can now investigate plant biology by immobilising, cutting out or destroying a given gene and watching what happens to plants that grow without it.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, August 16, 2025
Features / 21 August 2025
21 August 2025

For those in the West, hunger is often just the familiar feeling of a growling stomach between meals — in Gaza, it has become a strategic weapon of slow, systematic and deadly destruction, writes MARC VANDEPITTE

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER: Settlers from Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus, cut down 97 olive trees in the village of Burin, 2009 / Pic: ISM Palestine/CC
Features / 30 July 2025
30 July 2025

Olive oil remains a vital foundation of food, agriculture and society, storing power in the bonds of solidarity. Though Palestinians are under attack, they continue to press forward write  ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

Palestinians women mourn people who were killed while returning from one of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers operated by the U.S.-backed organization, according to Nasser Hospital, during their funerals in Khan Younis, June 30
Features / 1 July 2025
1 July 2025

Israel’s monopolisation of ‘aid’ to slaughter Palestinians means there is no other option: direct international intervention now, says CLAUDIA WEBBE

zb
Books / 27 June 2025
27 June 2025

ALEX DITTRICH hitches a ride on a jaw-dropping tour of the parasite world