News: Scientists observe plant evolution as it happens.
Ye Old One
By ANI
Posted On Monday, January 04, 2010
Berlin: A team of scientists have directly measured for the first time
the speed with which new mutations occur in plants, thus capturing
evolution in the act.
The team comprised of experts from the Max Planck Institute for
Developmental Biology, Germany, and Indiana University, US.
Their findings shed new light on the evolutionary process. For
example, why resistance to herbicides can appear within a few years.
�While the long term effects of genome mutations are well understood,
we did not know how often new ones arise,� said Detlef Weigel,
director at the Max Planck Institute.
The team followed all genetic changes in five lines of the mustard
relative Arabidopsis thaliana that occurred during 30 generations.
They then searched for differences between the final specimen and the
original ancestor.
The comparison of the entire genome revealed that in over the course
of only a few years some 20 DNA blocks, so called base pairs, had been
mutated in each of the five lines.
Each seedling has on average had one new mutation in each of the two
copies of its genome that it inherited from its parents.
To find these tiny alterations in the 120 million base pair of
Arabidopsis was akin to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack,
according to Weigel.
--
Bob.
Desertphile
wrote:
> Scientists observe plant evolution as it happens
>
> http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=30&contentid=201001042010010403095396242e1f9fe§xslt=#ftr2
>
> By ANI
> Posted On Monday, January 04, 2010
>
> Berlin: A team of scientists have directly measured for the first time
> the speed with which new mutations occur in plants
In *SOME* plants.
--
http://desertphile.org
Desertphile's Desert Soliloquy. WARNING: view with plenty of water
"Why aren't resurrections from the dead noteworthy?" -- Jim Rutz
rmj
> Scientists observe plant evolution as it happens
>
> http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=30&contentid=201001042010010403095396242e1f9fe§xslt=#ftr2
>
> By ANI
> Posted On Monday, January 04, 2010
>
> Berlin: A team of scientists have directly measured for the first time
> the speed with which new mutations occur in plants, thus capturing
> evolution in the act.
> The team comprised of experts from the Max Planck Institute for
> Developmental Biology, Germany, and Indiana University, US.
>
> Their findings shed new light on the evolutionary process. For
> example, why resistance to herbicides can appear within a few years.
>
> we did not know how often new ones arise,� said Detlef Weigel,
> director at the Max Planck Institute.
>
> The team followed all genetic changes in five lines of the mustard
> relative Arabidopsis thaliana that occurred during 30 generations.
> They then searched for differences between the final specimen and the
> original ancestor.
>
> The comparison of the entire genome revealed that in over the course
> of only a few years some 20 DNA blocks, so called base pairs, had been
> mutated in each of the five lines.
>
> Each seedling has on average had one new mutation in each of the two
> copies of its genome that it inherited from its parents.
>
> To find these tiny alterations in the 120 million base pair of
> Arabidopsis was akin to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack,
> according to Weigel.
>
Using a large magnet.