The brake that also starts the engine: a gene complex plants need to make seeds

Hasibe Tunçay, a molecular biologist at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, studies how thale cress — a small plant scientists use as a stand-in for crops — makes its seeds. Her team found that a protein group called DREAM, long known for switching genes off, also switches on a key gene during the cell division that creates pollen and eggs. Plants missing parts of DREAM made far fewer seeds; plants missing several parts made none at all. Because similar complexes work in animals too, the finding, published in Science Advances, hints at a shared rulebook for fertility across much of life.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation