For plants, choosing to fight against a pathogen often comes at the cost of compromised growth and development. Now, scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science, Education & Research, Thiruvananthapuram (IISER-TVM) find a new molecular player that helps maintain this delicate balance.

Scientists develop DNA barcodes to distinguish between and accurately identify over three hundred varieties of Thrips.

The Canadian horseweed, found in abundance in the Kashmir Valley, is an invasive—an alien species that found its way there about 70 years ago and proceeded to dominate the local flora. Manzoor Shah from Kashmir University and an international team of researchers set out to compare the behavior of this plant in its native North America with its behavior in the regions it since colonized.