A follow-up study to a 2004 investigation on ferns shows that over millions of years, there has been a completely natural gene transfer between plant species, something that is usually artificially done. In this case, scientist Fay-Wei Li has discovered that since the evolutionary explosion of ferns roughly 100 million years ago, ferns have picked up a light-sensitive protein from the primitive hornwort plant. This protein, known as neochrome, allows for more sensitive light absorption, which means that plants carrying it can thrive even on dim forest floors. Dr. Li searched for any gene related to neochrome in fern species, but could not find one. However, the protein-coding gene was abundant in hornworts, which are only distantly related to ferns. Dr. Li hypothesized that ferns picked up the gene by growing in extremely intimate contact with hornworts, which fits a growing trend found by botanists in recent years. The results seem to be convincing, and Dr. li hopes this study will prompt other geneticists to search for more cases of gene transfer.
Though I'm not big on plants, I find the idea of gene transfer interesting. As Dr. Li's colleague Dr. Jeffrey Palmer states, "It's like swapping out one part of a machine for another part made in another country." If this process occurs naturally on a frequent basis, it could definitely help solidify and tweak the artificial process occurring in the lab. I think it's a cool example of co-evolution when two species can exchange genes for mutual adaptation.
Here is the original article.
Here is an article explaining the artificial process in genetically-modified crops.
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