Donn
Philosopher
There is a creeper growing in the yard outside (it has grown over the tree, I think the creeper's over 20 years old now) and every year around this time we see it pushing out long 'arms' and we have to keep cutting them off or face eviction from our home!
Usually (for the last 3 years that I have seen) the new growth is an 'arm' that is round (like a pencil is round) and long with leaves coming out along the length. Now the odd thing; we have seen one limb (that comes from higher-up and looks normal up there) quickly become a flattened shape (like a thick butter-knife blade) that grows kinda twisted (it looks like a hockey-stick's curve). This limb has several others coming from it and they are all flattened the same way. This collection of "mutants" is as long as any other new growth, just distorted.
I was wondering if this is some disease or if it's a mutation. What I know about biology would fit in the space reserved by a full-stop (with room left over for my deep understanding of physics too), and I was wondering about DNA and mutation in plants - especially long-lived ones like this creeper. Could some of the DNA have changed and now the cells from that point on (i.e. the one arm of this plant) use this new DNA and thus the plant grows physically in a different shape from that point on?
I gather that mutations in DNA within sex cells of animals is what goes forth into the new generation and thus causes the mutation to "express". I also gather that Star-Trek style 'mutations' of a whole body cannot happen (although I don't really know why, if all DNA was changed in every cell at once. Hey this is Star-Trek!). I was just wondering about a thing like an old plant and how it could change while still alive & on-the-go so to speak.
I guess I have just read too many evolution threads and have an over-active imagination!
I await a scoffing
Usually (for the last 3 years that I have seen) the new growth is an 'arm' that is round (like a pencil is round) and long with leaves coming out along the length. Now the odd thing; we have seen one limb (that comes from higher-up and looks normal up there) quickly become a flattened shape (like a thick butter-knife blade) that grows kinda twisted (it looks like a hockey-stick's curve). This limb has several others coming from it and they are all flattened the same way. This collection of "mutants" is as long as any other new growth, just distorted.
I was wondering if this is some disease or if it's a mutation. What I know about biology would fit in the space reserved by a full-stop (with room left over for my deep understanding of physics too), and I was wondering about DNA and mutation in plants - especially long-lived ones like this creeper. Could some of the DNA have changed and now the cells from that point on (i.e. the one arm of this plant) use this new DNA and thus the plant grows physically in a different shape from that point on?
I gather that mutations in DNA within sex cells of animals is what goes forth into the new generation and thus causes the mutation to "express". I also gather that Star-Trek style 'mutations' of a whole body cannot happen (although I don't really know why, if all DNA was changed in every cell at once. Hey this is Star-Trek!). I was just wondering about a thing like an old plant and how it could change while still alive & on-the-go so to speak.
I guess I have just read too many evolution threads and have an over-active imagination!
I await a scoffing
) - is there any comment on whether it's a mutation or just a disease?
