Small weed helps unravel complex plant defence system
Friday, October 12, 2012 - 05:00
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org)—Arabidopsis thaliana, or thale cress as it is commonly known, made history back in 2000 by becoming the first plant to have its entire genetic code read by scientists, contributing to what is often referred to as biology's version of the book of life. Today, the 'microscopes' scientists have access to allow them to zoom down much further into the structure of the proteins that are made by the genes, so taking the book of life and making sense of the tiny letters on the pages.