Avocado flowers swap their sex every single day. Scientists have now identified the gene that makes this possible.
Every spring, avocado trees perform a remarkable botanical routine in which their flowers alternate between male and female phases to promote successful pollination. This complex reproductive strategy was first documented in 1927 by botanist A. B. Stout and has puzzled researchers for nearly a century.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has now solved the mystery by pinpointing a single regulatory gene called SDMYB as the master controller. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, and UC Riverside showed that this gene determines whether a tree follows an A-type schedule, functioning as female in the morning and male in the afternoon, or a B-type schedule that runs in the exact reverse order.
The discovery offers a major practical advantage for the avocado industry, especially in California, where avocados are the official state fruit and support a substantial agricultural economy. In the past, breeders often had to wait up to a decade for a seedling to mature and flower before they could determine its pollination type.
With this new genetic insight, farmers can use simple DNA sequencing to identify a young plant’s flowering type almost immediately, eliminating years of costly uncertainty. This advance is expected to speed the development of hardier, higher-quality, and more climate-resilient avocado varieties.
[Groh, J. S., et al. (2026). Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2606876123]
Japanese football player Kazuyoshi Miura, who holds the record for being the oldest professional footballer at the age of 59, scored his first goal since 2022. This is his 41st professional season, and he is currently playing for Fukushima United in Japan’s third tier league
🚨🇮🇷 In response to US and Israeli threats, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei shopped at a Tehran mall decorated with Palestinian flags—without security.
Surprisingly, he stands in line like anyone else to complete his purchase.
BREAKING: STOP DELETING PHOTOS WHEN YOUR PHONE SAYS STORAGE FULL.
The real junk is hiding somewhere else entirely.
I freed 22GB in 15 minutes without deleting a single memory.
Here's exactly where to look 👇
@SpireJim It's inflation of 2000% since 1983
Gist of the matter is to always use the money you have (investment), make it circulate but don't stock it because inflation is after your money
@frankbalkazerg1 In a court if you don't have facts
Urgue the about the circumstances
If you don't have that urge about the procedure
If you don't have any you dumb , you need to be in jail
Stop telling Claude, "do this."
Stop telling Claude, "write code."
Stop telling Claude, "fix this error."
You're actually treating a senior AI like a junior intern.
Here are 8 prompts you can copy and paste directly:
@nbstv@thomas_kitimbo@KiberuSirajje1@Mrssebugwawo There is no wrong doing here..
It's is the internal ministry that issue passports
It's NIRA agancy that issues IDs
It's military stores that issue uniform and arms
2026 LAUREATE: SPIRE — L’humour et le sens de l’analyse critique de @SpireJim's rendent ses caricatures populaires et virales. L’intellectuel ougandais dénonce la corruption, les abus institutionnels et les dérives du pouvoir.
👉 https://t.co/KWJWPA4A3e