Human life is limited, so many powerful people want to find immortality. Among them can be mentioned, Qin Thuy Hoang or Vo Tac Thien and many other kings have spent a lot of effort to find the cure for immortality. Unfortunately, they cannot avoid death as a natural law.
Yet, in the natural world, there are many animals and creatures that have realized this dream of mankind. Welwitschia mirabilis, also known as cypress, is such a plant. According to scientists, cypress trees have appeared on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs and they can live up to 3,000 years old.
Namib Desert “octopus”, a strange plant that holds the secret to immortality that humans have always dreamed of. (Photo: Baidu)
Cypress is also known by many different names such as desert octopus, n’tumbo (stubborn person), onyanga (onion) and tweeblaarkanniedood (two leaves that do not die) in the local language. In addition, they are also called “living fossils” because of their ability to live long. Strangely, cypress exists in an environment that can be said to be the harshest on Earth, that is the African desert.
The reason the cypress is called a desert “octopus” is because their shape is especially similar to this creature. Seen from a distance, the leaves of the cypress tree are large and stretch out on the sand like the tentacles of a giant octopus. The cypress “octopus” was first found in 1859 by Frederich Welwitsch – an Austrian explorer.
Hyacinths only exist in the Namib desert and they have no relatives. Cypress is the only gymnosperm in the order Welwitschiales, the only genus Welwitschia, the family Welwitschiaceae and the order Welwitschiales under the gymnosperm classification.
The desert “octopus” is the famous cypress plant. (Photo: Baidu)
Cypress belongs to the group of dwarf trees and shrubs. They have an average height of 50 cm, can grow up to 180 cm. Cypress has an inverted cone-shaped body because the head only grows horizontally. They developed this way to suit the hot and harsh climate of the Namib Desert. In fact, the cypress grows very well in the Namib desert’s rainfall of only 9.9mm/year.
The special feature of the cypress tree is that it has only 2 leaves. Their leaves never fall and grow continuously throughout the life of the plant. Leaves are twisted backwards towards the stem. Its leaves are up to 30cm wide and can be up to 14m long. Due to the arid desert climate and the erosion of sand, the leaves of the cypress are torn into long strips.
Moreover, because the cypress is quite low, the leaves stretch on the sandy surface, so many people associate them with the “octopus” of the ocean. Thanks to its low shape, the roots of the cypress tree always maintain a stable temperature no matter how harsh the environment.
On the 2 sides of the leaves of the cypress there are holes called breathing holes. This hole makes the process of air exchange and evaporation easier. During the day, this vent will close to prevent steam from escaping. At night, this stoma will open for photosynthesis. Water that sits on the leaves will often roll down the stem and roots for absorption.
Cypress only lives in the Namib desert in South Africa. (Photo: Baidu)
The leaves of the cypress can also regulate pigmentation. For example, if it’s hot, the leaves will have more red pigment to protect the plant from the sun’s radiation. If the temperature drops sharply or there is a lot of water, the leaves will be greener for photosynthesis.
Cypress has a sex division. Male and female plants have different seed chambers and bile-secreting tips. Wasps and beetles are great helpers to help them pollinate.
Not only has a strange appearance, cypresses also surprise scientists by their ability to last. The oldest cypress tree found by scientists is up to 3,000 years old. Thanks to this discovery, they decided to find a way to explain why the cypress can live so long.
Decipher the secret of “immortal life”
After a period of research, researchers from Queen Mary University (UK) have discovered that the secret to the longevity of the cypress tree is actually in the genome of this plant. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
The Independent newspaper reported on the discovery. Accordingly, genes are the most important factors that help cypress orchids have a resilient vitality and special shape.
From a distance, the cypress tree looks like a giant octopus crawling in the desert. (Photo: Baidu)
In addition, they also discovered that the leaves of the cypress do not only grow from the top or top of the stem. If this apex dies, the leaves of the cypress will grow in the most vulnerable parts of the plant. This location is also a place for new plant cells to grow.
Lead researcher, botanic geneticist Andrew Leitch said: “This cypress can live for thousands of years because they never stop growing. If they stop, they will die.” . One of the specimens showed that the cypress they collected had been alive since the Iron Age, that is, more than 3,000 years ago. This was also the period when the ancients began to use iron tools to make tools and weapons.
From the genome of the cypress, the researchers found that they once lived in an extremely poor and arid environment. The same goes for their habitat history.
A cypress has only 2 leaves. (Photo: Baidu)
According to Professor Tao Wan, a botanist from the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden (China), from 86 million years ago, when the Namib desert formed, the drought increased and the drought lasted, the genome of Cypress species encountered some mitotic errors that led to duplication.
In most of the cypress genome are strands of DNA that duplicate themselves to break down the large genome that sustains life. This is a way for the cypress to not consume energy so that it is not eliminated in the harsh habitat of the Namib desert.
The researchers also further determined that the cypress gene is essentially a self-replicating “junk” DNA sequence. These are called retrotransposons or reverse transposition factors. This type of DNA is produced when the temperature of the Namib desert soars, causing the genome to change. Specifically, the cypress gene has epigenetically altered to methylate junk DNA. The time of this change was about 1-2 million years ago. Therefore, after many years, cyclamen has acquired a superior genome.
Cypress genomes have evolved to optimize their survival. (Photo: Baidu)
Thanks to this set of genes, cypress can speed up the metabolism to help cells grow more active. Since then, the survivability of cypress trees has also been strongly developed, making them the “immortal” tree species. The scientists also added that decoding the genome of the cypress tree has given them more clues to how to deal with the problem that has been encountered in agricultural crops when the Earth is getting hotter day by day.
