Whether or not the story is true, the symbolism of the thistle (ahem, sorry for the pun) took root and is honored to this day. Other facts about the thistle include that it is a biennial plant, meaning it takes two years to complete its life cycle. It reseeds easily. It's a combination of beauty and ruggedness. It has a spreading, invasive root system, hence its classification as weed.
imprinted gene, a gene whose expression has been affected by genomic imprinting so that only a single allele functions, the other being turned off by epigenetic mechanisms during embryonic development.
Definition of Gene Splicing. Gene splicing is the procedure where pieces of DNA are cut up and spliced together to form recombinant DNA. The DNA fragments usually come from different organisms. The DNA molecules are not cut by a physical pair of scissors; the process is enzymatic with the target DNA being chemically cut by restriction enzymes.