A Molecular Clue to How Rice Adapted to Drier Conditions

Standard Flooded paddy fields make rice look like a water plant through and through. In truth, only its wild ancestors are built that way, rooted permanently in shallow water at the edges of lakes and marshes, where water levels stay fairly constant. Domestication moved rice into a different world. Fields are drained, irrigated, and replanted on a human schedule, not a marsh's schedule, and much…