Scientists discover ancient DNA “switches” hidden in plants for 400 million years

Scientists have uncovered an enormous hidden archive of plant DNA that has endured for more than 400 million years. By comparing hundreds of plant genomes, researchers identified more than 2.3 million regulatory DNA sequences that act like genetic switches, controlling when and how genes are activated. These sequences, known as conserved non-coding sequences (CNSs), were detected using a new computational tool called Conservatory. Genes and their functions often stay remarkably similar across species, even when those species diverged hundreds of millions of years ago. This pattern appears in both plants and animals. However, the same consistency does not seem to apply to the D... [3529 chars]