According to Greek mythology , red roses first appeared when Aphrodite goad her human foot on a spine , spilling blood on a white-hot rose . Since then , pink wine ' thorns have captured the imaginations of countless poets and forlorn fan .
But they are n’t the only plant life with these dangerous swelling , technically squall prickles . pricker have evolved severally in species across the plant land . Their main function : warding off herbivore . They ’re even present in certain eggplant and Elmer Leopold Rice crops . Yet , for years , it ’s been unclear how the trait pops up so frequently in such unrelated species .
Now , in a breakthrough find , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory ( CSHL ) has found that the same ancient cistron family is responsible for prickle across many plant , despite millions of years of evolutionary interval .
CSHL postdoc James Satterlee was inspired to investigate pricker upon touring a theatre where his consultant , Professor & HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman , get hundreds of nightshade . Think tomato , potatoes , and eggplants . Satterlee call back :
" I noticed many had very prominent sticker . So , I ask , ' What do we know about that ? What ’s going on with this adaptation ? ' It sour out we knew almost nothing . "
With scientists in Spain , Satterlee began psychoanalyze eggplants , which pass him to a gene family called LONELY GUY ( LOG ) . LOG genes are unremarkably responsible for making a hormone that causes cell division and elaboration . Satterlee discover that certain LOG mutations also eliminate thorn in aubergine . Lippman and Satterlee wondered : Could lumber - related genes be creditworthy for prickle amplification and red ink across multiple plants over zillion of geezerhood ?
The team started combing through prior study and contact pardner around the world . Satterlee and Lippman worked with the New York Botanical Garden to examine specimen with and without prickles . partner at Cornell University used genome editing to eliminate prickles in desert raisin , a foraged Charles Edward Berry aboriginal to Australia . Another colleague in France repress prickles in pink wine . In totality , the team descend to associate prickles with LOG - related cistron in about 20 coinage .
Lippman say while this discovery could be used to organise plants without sticker , it also has braggart implications for understanding convergent phylogeny in all life . That is , how altogether different specie independently develop similar traits . He explains :
" You ’re really asking about spirit in universal — evolution of trait . How do they emerge ? How are they modify ? What are the underlying mechanism ? What can we get wind about things we take for granted ? "
The answer could someday make lesser - have sex species like desert raisins a raw fruit in supermarkets . At the very least , it should make life easier for horticulturalists plucking blush wine ' pesky thorn .
Source : cshl.edu
