UC Davis discoveries
in biology

We have helped to rewrite biology textbooks. Our discoveries uncovered the realization that chloroplasts contain DNA and tardigrades can live without water for long periods of time.

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A woodcut illustration of a mircroscrope

Recognizing the DNA
inside chloroplasts

Look in a high school biology textbook, and you’ll read that chloroplasts, the structures inside plant cells that carry out photosynthesis, contain their own genetic material separate from the cell’s nucleus.

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A graphical representation of the stacked structure of a plant chloroplast

Surviving
extreme drying

All living things depend on water, but a handful of organisms including tardigrades, brine shrimp and baker’s yeast can survive for long periods in a dehydrated state.

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Tardigrade representation

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