Ancient Hornwort genomes could lead to crop improvement
An international research team led by the University of Zurich and the Boyce Thompson Institute illuminates the origin of land plants by analyzing the first hornwort genomes. In this ancient group of land plants, they discovered genes that could help crops grow more efficiently with less synthetic fertilizer.
The research is being carried out by Swiss Plant Science Web member Dr. Péter Szövényi, group leader at the Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany of the university of Zurich with colleagues from the Boyce Thompson Institute.
Reference publication
Fay-Wei Li, Tomoaki Nishiyama, Manuel Waller, Eftychios Frangedakis, Jean Keller, Zheng Li, Noe Fernandez-Pozo, Michael S. Barker, Tom Bennett, Miguel A. Blázquez, Shifeng Cheng, Andrew C. Cuming, Jan de Vries, Sophie de Vries, Pierre-Marc Delaux, Issa S. Diop, C. Jill Harrison, Duncan Hauser, Jorge Hernández-García, Alexander Kirbis, John C. Meeks, Isabel Monte, Sumanth K. Mutte, Anna Neubauer, Dietmar Quandt, Tanner Robison, Masaki Shimamura, Stefan A. Rensing, Juan Carlos Villarreal, Dolf Weijers, Susann Wicke, Gane K.-S. Wong, Keiko Sakakibara & Péter Szövényi
Anthoceros genomes illuminate the origin of land plants and the unique biology of hornworts.
Nature Plants. March 13, 2020. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-020-0618-2