MSU plant biologists shed light on 144-year-old seedy mystery
In April 2021, four Michigan State University plant scientists met at an undisclosed area on campus to dig up a bottle containing seeds buried more than 144 years ago by MSU botanist William J. Beal.
The Beal experiment team members, including Telewski; Lars Brudvig, professor of plant biology; Grace Fleming, assistant professor of plant biology; and David Lowry, associate professor of plant biology, have been sequencing genomic DNA to confirm the plant species’ identities for the first time in the history of the experiment. The Beal team’s work has been published in the American Journal of Botany.
Fast forward to 2023, more than two years after the seeds were excavated from their secret location, molecular genetic testing has confirmed a hybrid plant was accidentally included among the seeds in the bottle — a discovery that would have surprised and amazed Beal since DNA was unknown at the time.
