The Lifesciences Magazine

Lycophytes , some of the oldest terrestrial plants and related to ferns, have revealed a surprising genetic phenomenon to an international team of experts. Their research, which was just released in the PNAS journal, shows that these plants have deviated significantly from the standard in plant genetics by retaining a constant genetic structure for more than 350 million years. Senior study author and Boyce Thompson Institute professor Dr. Fay-Wei Li stated, “The extraordinarily slow pace of genomic evolution sets these plants apart.” “Understanding why these plants have changed so little could reveal important aspects of  plant evolution  and genetics.” A class of vascular plants known as homosporous lycophytes exhibit remarkable genetic stability. The two species that the scientists sequenced were Huperzia asiatica and Diphasiastrum complanatum. These species split off from a common ancestor roughly 350 million years ago, which is when amphibians first began to crawl on land....