Education

UF researcher’s new tool reveals first known link between rare plant and parasite

A UF assistant professor of biology, Liming Cai, developed a genetic-analysis tool called HGTScanner that detects horizontal gene transfer — the exchange of genetic material between unrelated species — in plants. Using the tool on existing DNA samples, Cai and postdoctoral researcher Rachel Cohen identified the first recorded interaction between Amborella, the oldest surviving branch of flowering plants native to New Caledonia, and a parasitic plant called Hachettea. The finding, published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, also revealed that the gene transfer ran from the parasite to the host, the reverse of the typical direction, and the team now plans fieldwork in New Caledonia to confirm the ecological relationship.

Sources: UF News