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Credit: Salk Institute LA JOLLA (February 1, 2021) Wolffia, also known as duckweed, is the fastest-growing plant known, but the genetics underlying this strange little plant s success have long been a mystery to scientists. Now, thanks to advances in genome sequencing, researchers are learning what makes this plant unique and, in the process, discovering some fundamental principles of plant biology and growth. A multi-investigator effort led by scientists from the Salk Institute is reporting new findings about the plant s genome that explain how it s able to grow so fast. The research, published in the February 2021 issue of Genome Research, will help scientists to understand how plants make trade-offs between growth and other functions, such as putting down roots and defending themselves from pests. This research has implications for designing entirely new plants that are optimized for specific functions, such as increased carbon storage to help address climate ....