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Baldness plant gene discovery reveals origin of hairy alpine plants

Date:
February 27, 2020
Source:
University of Edinburgh
Summary:
Scientists have solved a puzzle that has long baffled botanists -- why some plants on high mountainsides are hairy while their low-lying cousins are bald.
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Scientists have solved a puzzle that has long baffled botanists -- why some plants on high mountainsides are hairy while their low-lying cousins are bald.

Alpine species of snapdragon have evolved to disable a gene that prevents those living at low altitudes from growing hairs on their stalks and leaves, researchers say.

The small hairs may act like UV sunscreen to protect alpine plants growing in full sun on lofty, exposed cliffs, the team says. Low-lying plants might not need to make the hairs because of the relative abundance of shade in valleys.

These insights could aid the production of useful chemicals secreted by the hairs of some plants, scientists say, including the antimalarial drug artemisinin, and the chemicals that give herbs and hops their flavours.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh identified the gene that controls hair production -- which they named the Hairy gene -- in snapdragons by breeding alpine and lowland species with each other.

They found that the gene is switched off in alpine plants. It is switched on in low-lying species, which causes baldness by blocking the activation of sections of DNA involved in hair production, the team says.

Their findings show that the first snapdragons -- which grew around 12 million years ago -- were bald, and that newer, alpine species evolved as a result of mutations that deactivated the gene.


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Materials provided by University of Edinburgh. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Ying Tan, Matthew Barnbrook, Yvette Wilson, Attila Molnár, Alfredas Bukys, Andrew Hudson. Shared Mutations in a Novel Glutaredoxin Repressor of Multicellular Trichome Fate Underlie Parallel Evolution of Antirrhinum Species. Current Biology, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.060

Cite This Page:

University of Edinburgh. "Baldness plant gene discovery reveals origin of hairy alpine plants." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 February 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200227114553.htm>.
University of Edinburgh. (2020, February 27). Baldness plant gene discovery reveals origin of hairy alpine plants. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200227114553.htm
University of Edinburgh. "Baldness plant gene discovery reveals origin of hairy alpine plants." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200227114553.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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