A recent study led by the University of Copenhagen has shed new light on how plant life became established on Earth 470 million years ago. The experts found two genes that seem indispensable for allowing plants to defend themselves against fungal attacks – a crucial ability that paved the way for all terrestrial plant life. When plants evolved from aquatic algae to survive on land nearly half a billion years ago, they needed to build defenses against the massive population of fungi colonizing the Earth.  “It is...