Wild animals and plants have developed a variety of adaptive traits driven by adaptive
evolution, an important strategy for species survival and persistence. Uncovering the …

The study of de novo protein-coding genes is maturing from the ad hoc reporting of
individual cases to the systematic analysis of extensive genomic data from several species …

De novo gene birth is the process by which new genes evolve from DNA sequences that
were ancestrally non-genic. De novo genes represent a subset of novel genes, and may be …

Genome editing is a revolution in biotechnology for crop improvement with the final product
lacking transgenes. However, most derived traits have been generated through edits that …

Drought and other abiotic stresses negatively affect plant growth and development and thus
reduce productivity. The plant-specific NAM/ATAF1/2/CUC2 (NAC) transcription factors have …

Historically speaking, Arabidopsis was not the plant of choice for investigating
photosynthesis, with physiologists and biochemists favouring other species such as …

Plant DNA methylation is its own language, interpreted by the cell to maintain silencing of
transposons, facilitate chromatin structure, and to ensure proper expression of some genes …

The origin of novel protein-coding genes de novo was once considered so improbable as to
be impossible. In less than a decade, and especially in the last five years, this view has been …

Sizable minorities of protein-coding genes from every sequenced eukaryotic and prokaryotic
genome are unique to the species. These so-called 'orphan genes' may evolve de novo from …

For most sequenced flowering plants, multiple whole-genome duplications (WGDs) are
found. Duplicated genes following WGD often have different fates that can quickly disappear …