Plant enzyme's origins traced to non-enzyme ancestors
Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 14:00
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org) -- As plants began to transition from aquatic habitats to dry land some 500 million years ago, their needs changed. Those primitive ancestors of modern plants were ill-equipped to survive in a dry, sunlight-blasted world. But gradually, they evolved enzymes that let them synthesize new kinds of chemicals to protect them from the threats of their new world, such as the damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun.