A multidisciplinary team of researchers has combined deep botanical knowledge with powerful genomic technology to decode and mine the DNA of non-flowering seed plants and uncover genes that evolved to help plants build seeds. These findings, published in Nature Communications, may aid scientists in improving seed crop production in agriculture and in the conservation of these ancient endangered seed plants.

University of Iowa biologists discovered that a New Zealand freshwater snail duplicated its entire genome, capturing a rare evolutionary transitory state. The finding shows how large-scale genetic events can generate the raw material needed to fuel significant new adaptations and innovations in animals. Results appear in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.