【#Tech24H】Dozens of scientists from around the world have jointly deciphered a secret buried deep in the plant kingdom for hundreds of millions of years. A large international collaboration led by institutions including the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst announced that they have traced and mapped an unprecedented ancient gene regulation atlas spanning 300 million years of plant evolution. This research fundamentally challenges traditional views, revealing an underlying “grammar” that drives the formation of plant structures in all their diversity. The findings not only answer core questions in basic evolutionary biology but also provide an unprecedented blueprint and toolkit for precisely designing crop traits on demand to address food security and climate challenges. [ By Zhang Liyan | Tang Ruohan ]