In the harsh, arid conditions of Chile’s vast Atacama Desert – the driest non-polar desert on the planet – only the most resilient plant life can cling on among the water-parched rocks and sand.
How these plants came to thrive in such a hostile place is of particular interest to scientists hoping to understand how plant life might adapt to changing ecosystems in a warming world. Now, in a new study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers has identified the smoking gun: key genes that have helped Atacama’s hardy shrubs adapt to their desiccated homelands.