As we’ve talked about before on this site, the genome is the complete set of DNA letters that spell out the ‘instructions’ for how to build an organism. By sequencing the genome of the Joshua tree we hope to be able to understand its evolutionary history, how it’s relationship with yucca moth pollinators originated and evolved over time, and how Joshua trees might adapt to ongoing global climate change. This summer we started the process of decoding the genome.
Figure 1: Samples of Joshua tree leaves for DNA extraction. (Ramona Flatz)
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