## Plants and important historical discoveries

In science, plants are often used as model systems for several reasons. Since they are eukaryotic organisms, mechanisms and phenomena observed in plant cells are often found in a similar form in other organisms. Unlike laboratory animals, plants provide a great advantage as they are not difficult to handle and cultivate. They are also easily available, have a short generation time and in many cases provide a large number of offspring, allowing scientists to perform multiple-generation experiments in a relatively short time. However, there are also exceptions where we have to wait several years for the offspring (oak is a good example). In addition, in the case of plants, the ethical dimension of research is usually not a problem.

One of the most significant scientific discoveries was the first-ever observation of a eukaryotic cell by the English physicist Robert Hooke, who analysed cork oak slices. Later, other structures were discovered in plant cells. Robert Brown, a Scottish botanist discovered the nucleus in orchid plants and the process of cell division was described in algae by Barthélemy C. Dumortier, a Belgian botanist. Plants were also part of experiments related to genetics. Gregor Johann Mendel, the founder of genetics, used pea plants in his experiments and the Danish botanist Wilhelm Johansen introduced the terms phenotype and genotype when he experimented with lines of self-pollinating beans. Another important discovery, of which plants were essential (specifically corn), was the identification of mobile genetic elements, which we also call "transposons". These DNA sequences can "jump" in the genome, which is why they are sometimes referred to as "jumping genes". They can be copied, transposed, and incorporated into another place in the genome so that we can find many of them in eukaryotic genomes. In the past, it was assumed that these pieces of DNA had no meaning or may even have had a negative effect, initially referred to as selfish genetic elements. However, it was gradually discovered that transposons can play a role in adaptation and evolution. This phenomenon was later described in other organisms, and Barbara McClintock's work on mobile elements in corn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983.