Davis was shocked to see that nearly 50% of the genes widely conserved across plant lineages had disappeared from Sapria. That’s more than 2x as many genes as are lost from the parasitic plants called dodders (genus Cuscuta), and 4x the losses in cereal-killing witchweeds (genus Striga). “We knew that there would be loss, but we didn’t think it would be on the order of 44% of its genes.”

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