The 12/05 - 1/06 issue of Natural History has a brief article ("Great Leap",
pg. 14) about the apparent transfer of genetic material from a flowering
plant ( in the order Santalales which includes mistletoe) to a fern
(Botrychium virginianum (Rattlesnake Fern)). According to the article "most
Santales plants are parasites that can have intimate contact with fern
cells, and so the investigators suggests the genes might have moved directly
from flowering plant to fern." But another hypothesis is that a fungi "which
live within the roots of many distantly related plants served as a conduit
for the jumping genes." Given the close association orchids have with
fungi, this, to me, would raise the question as to whether orchids have
acquired genetic material from other (non-orchid) sources.
Jim Pyrzynski
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