Biologists have found that ferns have been stealing DNA from other organisms for millions of years.

In total, the fern genome has more than 7 billion bases in 39 chromosomes - this is twice as many as in humans. It turned out that for many years ferns not only accumulated DNA, but also borrowed it from other organisms. The plant's genome has a defense against a toxin that punches holes in the cell membrane. Bacteria have such protection, and scientists have suggested that the fern received it from them during horizontal gene transfer.