A team of researchers in Queensland in Australia have said that they have cracked the genetic code of a plant and this would help grow plants in space and eventually colonise other planets like MARS.

Professor Peter Waterhouse and Dr Julia Bally from Queensland University of Technology have claimed that they have discovered the Australian native tobacco plant or Pitjuri plant has forgone its immune system in favour of rapid reproduction and over-sized seeds. This change will allow them to find ways to grow the plants in space and other planets.

The scientists were aiming to determine how the plant achieved this unique adaptation and mapped the genethat turned off the plant's immune system for rapid reproduction and over-sized seeds. Experts said that the absence of immune system makes the plant a new avenue for further research. They said that researchers testing genes or developing antibodies will be able to get results in just four days compared to a year.

Professor Waterhouse said, "They've got this gene that's been switched off and this is giving it these magical properties. It just has this fabulous property of taking a gene in from virtually everywhere and it accepts it and it expresses it so it rapidly, speeds up the research."

Experts noted that the Pitjuri plant was recently used to develop a vaccine for the Ebola virus. It is usually found in deserts where immune system is not important.