Spike Moss (IMAGE)

U.S. National Science Foundation

Spike Moss

Caption

Frond of the lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii. Biologists have discovered that a fundamental building block in the cells of flowering plants evolved independently, yet almost identically, in the 420-million-year-old lycophyte lineage. Called syringyl lignin, the building block is a critical part of the plants' scaffolding and water-transport systems, yet it apparently emerged separately much like flight arose separately in both bats and birds.

Credit

Jing-Ke Weng, Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University

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