News From the Field

Ancestors of land plants were wired to make the leap to shore


October 5, 2015

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The genetic and developmental innovations plants used to make the leap to land have been enduring secrets of nature. Now, an international team of researchers, writing this week (Oct. 5, 2015) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that the aquatic algae from which terrestrial plant life first arose were genetically pre-adapted to form the symbiotic relationships with microorganisms that most land plants need to acquire nutrients from the soil.Full Story

Source
University of Wisconsin-Madison

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