Dec 20, 2013 10:21 AM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Scientists have discovered a newly sequenced genome in the Amborella flower which could reveal new information about the origins of flowers on Earth.

Researchers have identified genes from a number of plant species in the South Pacific shrub - which is considered to be the sole survivor of one of the two oldest lineages of flowering plants, Science Codex reported.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy, Indiana University, Penn State University and the Institute of Research for Development in New Caledonia uncovered evidence for the evolutionary processes that paved the way for the amazing diversity of the more than 300,000 flowering plant species.

Amborella hails from an ancient evolutionary lineage and scientists who sequenced its genome say its DNA provides conclusive evidence that the ancestor of all flowering plants evolved following a "polyploidy event," during which an organism's entire genome is duplicated. It happened about 200 million years ago.

Researchers believe the doubling of the genes may be behind Darwin's theory of evolution - which symbolize just about all aspects of the origin and early evolution of flowering plants - since redundant copies of genes can evolve to develop new functions.

"Genome doubling may, therefore, offer an explanation to Charles Darwin's "abominable mystery" -the apparently abrupt proliferation of new species of flowering plants in fossil records dating to the Cretaceous period," Claude dePamphilis of Penn State University said in a statement.

The Amborella genome will provide scientists with a new tool for studying the genetic history of all flowering plants, and how genome duplication may have played a role in the evolution of traits like drought-resistance or fruit maturation.

Researchers said this is important because flowers account for all major food crop species, such as tomatoes, potatoes, rice, apples, avocados and soy.

"By comparing the DNA of various species to Amborella, we will be able to learn how important traits evolved," Victor Albert, professor of biological sciences, said in a statement.

Albert said the Amborella plant is an excellent point of reference for such comparisons because it  sits near the base of the evolutionary tree of life of flowering plants.

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