Scientists from the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute unveiled a series of living displays explaining the role of genes and genetics at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden this summer.

Colleagues from James Hutton Institute and the Division of Plant Sciences at the University’s College of Life Sciences created the garden to educate visitors about the role that plants play in understanding genetics and, in turn, how genetics is crucial to understanding variation in organisms.

Development of the garden was led by Dr Gordon Simpson and Dr Sarah McKim. The garden encompasses three beds, each approximately 10 m x 4 m, situated within the Evolutionary Garden. Variation in the sequence of DNA underpins variation in the appearance of plants.

The first bed is the Chromosome Walk, a series of barley plants arranged in the shape of a chromosome, each having a single defective gene causing them to look different in some way. Examining such differences helps scientists work out what individual genes do and where to find them on a chromosome.

The History of Genetics bed features plants that have been at the forefront of genetic research. The theory of genes and heredity was pioneered by the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel in his studies of pea plants, and some of the lines used by Mendel are also growing, along with the maize associated with the work for which Barbara McClintock was awarded a Nobel Prize.

The third bed, which shows variation in cereals from landraces such as ancient bere barley (which was probably grown in Scotland before the Vikings arrived) to modern crop varieties, was sown with the help of members of the public and pupils from Blackness Primary School. Different wild grasses were domesticated in prehistoric times by the selection of plants with favourable traits, resulting in cereals such as wheat, rice, barley and maize on which much of the world’s food supply depends today. As the summer progresses, the consequences of selection in these grasses will become clear.

A key feature of the Genetics Garden is sustainability, and it will be re-planted and adapted in coming years as a hub around which other public-engagement activities can be arranged. Funding for the Genetics Garden came from an Excellence with Impact prize awarded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The garden was opened by plant biologist Professor Richard Flavell.