IN BRIEF // NEWS@USU
FORMIDABLE FERNS Hey Wonder Woman, meet Azolla, a superorgan-
ism, and one of the fastest growing plants on the planet with an unparalleled capacity to sequester carbon. So much so, that 50 million years ago, it was this tiny, yet formidable fern that helped make possible a major shift from a very warm planet to the cooler world we know today. But with global temperatures on the rise, Azolla may be needed once again to save the day. We now know much more about it thanks, in part, to two Utah State University researchers, Paul Wolf, biology professor and associate department head, and Tanner Robison, graduate student in biology. They, along with 40 colleagues from around the globe, sequenced and analyzed the first two fern genomes ever—Azolla filiculoides and Salvinia cucullata. The groundbreaking research was announced in the July issue of Nature Plants. Considering that ferns were thriving on Earth 200 million years before flowering plants, it’s about time. Up until now, this dearth of genomic information has limited knowledge of the processes that govern the evolution of land plants. Ferns are the closest living relatives of seed plants. This provides a useful context for studying gene function, Wolf says. Among Azolla’s many superpowers, this prodigious aquatic fern enjoys a symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria in conjunction with bacteria in the cells that fix nitrogen—a perfect green manure that has served rice farmers in southeast Asia for hundreds of years. Cracking the fern’s genome has allowed researchers to compare, for the first time, its genes with the bacteria genes of Nostoc, a genus of cyanobacteria. With this, new understanding of the underlying biology
8 UTAHSTATE I FALL 2018
Azolla is not just another pretty face.
is required before they can further develop natural biofertilizer for future sustainable agricultural practices, Wolf says. As one who once set out on a 12-mile hike in Tasmania but made it only 40 yards in after coming upon giant tree ferns, Wolf couldn’t resist the call to help doing this first-ever fern genome study. It ultimately required a more innovative funding approach when traditional
grant funding channels dried up. Leading the charge were researchers Kathleen Pryer, a professor at Duke and Fay Wei Li, professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, New York, who appealed for backers through a crowdfunding site called Experiment.com. “It’s been very reaffirming to find out firsthand that people do care about pure science,” Pryer says. –John DeVilbiss
