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Genetics solves a thorny problem: how plants have prickles


Thorns – technically termed prickles – are a common feature on many drastically different plants. They represent an evolutionary puzzle.

What can we learn about things we take for granted?” says senior author Professor Zachary Lippman, a researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA. The researchers then looked beyond the Solanum family and found similar LOG genes in species of plant that diverged from one another more than 150 million years ago, including roses and rice. Credit: Mohammed Bendahmane/INRAE, CNRS, Université de Lyon, FranceThe researchers then used CRISPR to grow several genetically modified varieties of plant without prickles.

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