Wednesday, January 13, 2010

How can something be genetically different from its parent plant or plants?

The difference occurs because of (among other things) something called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms. These are mutations within the allelic sequence that alter the genetic code just enough to cause a different genotype.





When two genetic sequences are spliced and then reencoded together errors can occur. These are known as mutations. In error, the mechanism of DNA transcription, translation or replication can delete, add, or change a nucleotide base at a specific locus on a gene.How can something be genetically different from its parent plant or plants?
mutationHow can something be genetically different from its parent plant or plants?
Cross-breeding.





There's two ways to get a different plant and it won't neccesarily change for every type of plant.





One is to take two opposite plants of the same genus. For examples: A white rose crossed with a red rose will create seeds for a pink rose. A tall pea plant crossed with a short pea plant will create medium pea plants.





The other is genetic differences in the parent plants. If your plant grows different than other in the same genus. For example if you care for an apple orchard and one of the trees the apples look or taste slightly differnt than others, you would continue to propagate that trees cuttings for the desired trait, i.e. orange-red instead yellow.





This won't necessarily come out for all plants and you need patience to get the desired difference.





None of the plants you mention would alter genetically drastically if at all. You would need to grow and breed them over generations and by noticing any differences you would select that plant to continue breeding for a different mutation. Even at that rate and changes would be minimal at best.
The genetic material of the two parent plants is combined in a random way. This gives the daughter plant a random combination of its parents DNA. Therefore giving it different information about how to grow and to form.





Mutation also occurs very occasionally. This is where in DNA of the daughter plant is damaged and incorrectly repaired sometime before it starts to grow. This may alter the characteristics of the daughter plant.
It's called evolution.
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