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National Institutes of Natural Sciences

National Institute for Basic Biology

News

Press Release

2011.05.06

Success of the Selaginella genome sequencing project

The first genome sequencing of a non-seed vascular plant has been successfully completed. The spikemoss Selaginella moellendorffii is a descent of fossilized remnants, that constitute a major portion of coal deposits used for fuel today. This breakthrough is giving scientists new knowledge of how plants have evolved and is expected to lead to the identification of new pharmaceuticals. The project was lead by Perdue University’s Professor Jody Banks, with help from over 100 scientists from 11 countries; NIBB’s Professor Mitsuyasu Hasebe was the project leader for Japan. The results of this project were published May 5th 2011 in the journal ‘Science.

 

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