Christmas tree genome relatively unchanged in 100 million years

Science can make better corn and, well, better everything – except perhaps the Christmas tree. The genome of conifers like spruce, pine and fir has remained pretty much the same for the last 100 million years – a remarkable feat of genomic stability.

This great stability goes hand in hand with the low speciation rate of conifers. The world is currently home to only 600 species of conifers, while there are over 400,000 species of flowering plants.

Related on the SLP

No related posts.

Viewpoint: Democratic tsunami: As the red tide recedes, here are the most likely shifts in food and agricultural policy

$7.35 billion PFAS settlement: 3M to pay people who blame health problems on ‘forever chemicals’ phased out of firefighting foam for more than 20 years

Collagen supplements are not a wrinkle-reducing silver bullet, but they sure cost a lot

View the original article here: Christmas Tree Genome Hasn’t Changed Much In 100 Million Years