Chinese and foreign scientists crack the mystery of the rapid occupation of the earth by flowering plants

, Dec. 20 (Xinhua Lin Chao) -- A paper by scientists from China, the United States, Belgium and other countries, "The Water lily genome and the evolution of early flowering plants", was published online in nature, a leading international academic journal. The paper announced the high-quality genome of the Blue Star water lily and analyzed it, taking a crucial step in solving the mystery of how flowering plants can quickly take over the Earth in 200 million years.
as one of the representatives of flowering plants, water lilies are not only "regular visitors" in many parks and community ponds in the world, but also appear on national emblems, national flags, coins and stamps, reflecting their wide distribution. Experts say the rapid radiation capacity of flowering plants is considered by Darwin to be an "annoying mystery": since its origin 200 million years ago, flowering plants have produced more than 300,000 species, while their brother bare-child plants have only more than 800 species.
analysis based on water lily genome data shows that water lily ancestors have multiplied, and multiply has contributed to the origin and wide distribution of water lilies, deepening our understanding of multiplying. Zhang Liangsheng, lead author of the paper and a professor at Fujian University of Agriculture and Forglin, said the findings are of great significance in revealing the origin and evolution of flowering plants because of their unique position in the evolution of flowering plants.
, the paper analyzes the flower-colored fragrance path of water lily, and has important reference value to the study of flower-colored flower fragrance of horticultural plants. For example, water lilies have unique blue petals, which many breeders want to replicate to other ornamental flowers, Zhang said.
Fujian Agricultural and Forging University, Nanjing Agricultural University, D.D. University in Belgium, Fudan University, Penn State University and other organizations participated in the study.