Ceratopteris (IMAGE)

Florida Museum of Natural History

Ceratopteris — Caption

Analysis of the Ceratopteris genome provides hints for solving the long-standing mystery of why ferns, on average, retain more DNA than other plants. Comparisons to genomes from other groups also led to the surprise discovery that ferns stole the genes for several of their anti-herbivory toxins from bacteria.

Credit

Photo by David Randall, Western Sydney University

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