Prickles have been around for at least 400 million years, dating back to when ferns and their relatives emerged with some bearing prickles on their stems. Lonely Guy genesBy removing prickles from various species, including roses and eggplants, the authors found that a LOG gene was responsible for the prickles in about 20 types of plants studied. LOG-related genes are found in all plants, even dating back to mosses, which are regarded as the first dry-land plant, Lippman said. “(LOG genes) have been repeatedly co-opted (a biological shift in a trait’s function) in different plant species for the formation of prickles, and also repeatedly lost in lineages where prickles are lost. For agricultural purposes, removing prickles could make harvesting easier and pave the way to get lesser-known produce into grocery stores.

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Persons: munch, Zachary Lippman, —, Lippman, Guy, It’s, ” Lippman, “, Tyler Coverdale, ” Coverdale, Coverdale, ”, Vivian Irish Organizations: CNN, Laboratory, University of Utah, Wings, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Notre Dame, Yale Locations: Long, , New York, Yale University’s, Australia