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ACCUMULATED MUTATIONS. "However, in most cases, the gradual accumulation of deleterious mutations during growth is more likely to negatively influence fitness because these mutations can be potentially transmitted from shoot meristems to gametes when flowering occurs. As long as somatic mutations do not limit clonal growth, they should accumulate over the life span of genets." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn

HETEROSTYLY AND COMPATIBILITY. “The lengths of stamens and pistils in heterostylous flowers are adapted for pollination by different pollinators, or different body parts of the same pollinator. Thus, pollen originating in a long stamen will reach primarily long rather than short pistils, and vice versa. When pollen is transferred between two flowers of the same morph, no fertilization will take place, because of the self-incompatibility mechanism.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterostyly View in LinkedIn

BENEFICIAL MOSAICS. "The great size and longevity of many trees and clonal plants is predicted to be associated with the accumulation of numerous somatic mutations in cell lineages. Some have argued for the adaptive benefits of this type of variation because of the formation of genetic mosaics and their role in plant defense." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first weekend contemplation of plant hybrids. Historical reversals of plant species assignments have not been rare, and the case study of the rampantly hybrid species rhododendron through an exhaustive study of traits illustrate how slippery the assignments can be. This is further confounded by transgressive segregation which is the formation of extreme phenotypes when compared to the parental lines, making the hybrid resemble a new species. https://lnkd.in/ddar4m9 View in LinkedIn

Free school fruit contains multiple pesticides, report shows. Little and often. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/05/free-school-fruit-contains-multiple-pesticides-report-shows?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other View in LinkedIn

BLURRED SPECIES LINES. "It is nowadays evident that hybridization is widespread in certain groups of organisms, and the boundaries between varieties and species can be blurred in complexes of closely related species." https://lnkd.in/dK-A3iM View in LinkedIn

WEISMANN CHALLENGED. “An enzyme, reverse transcriptase, is now known that does allow information to flow from RNA to DNA, and a category of viruses (retroviruses) do insert their genetic component into their hosts' DNA by this means. Some genes (virogenes) appear to be of viral origin. http://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/weismanns-doctrine View in LinkedIn

“TRANSGRESSIVE SEGREGATION appears to be ubiquitous in plant hybrids.” More so than in animals. http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v83/n4/full/6886170a.html?foxtrotcallback=true View in LinkedIn

SOMATIC MUTATIONS. "The influence of somatic mutations on fitness is relevant in plants because of their indeterminate growth and lack of separation between somatic and germ-line tissues, thus violating Weismann’s doctrine. The frequency of somatic mutation should be correlated with the number of mitotic divisions between zygote formation and gamete production." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn

WEISMANN'S DOCTRINE. "The principle, proposed by A. Weismann, that hereditary information flows only from genome to soma, not vice versa; the principle would be flouted were Lamarckism true. In its refined, modern form, the principle reads that information flows always from DNA to RNA to protein, and not back again.” https://lnkd.in/e5fymDv View in LinkedIn