User:Annm2/Somatic mutation

Somatic Mutation in Plants(WIP)
Just like fleshy animals, plants too experience somatic mutation; a change in the DNA of the somatic cells that will eventually lead to reproduction. Similarly to animals, there is not a guarantee that every single mutation will be passed down. More specifically in plants, this is due to indeterminate growth and filtering during said growth, leaving the potential for corrections or less harmful mutations to be left behind in offspring (Watson, 2016)(picture?). This is due to cellular growth and mutations being established before the germline and genes being permanent. Even if a plant that does not have a mutation and has already experienced somatic growth, parts of said plant can still experience mutation and result in atypical reactions to the environment or appear unusual, leaving the rest of the plant entirely normal and functioning(at least a picture).

Previous research has made it appear as though recently damaged DNA and DNA that has yet to get repaired has been observed to increase the potential for somatic mutation in plants. More specifically, methylation levels changing in the plants already existing DNA and causing the increase in the rate in which the plant ages, these changes resulting in damage with said DNA(Dubrovina, 2015).

The environment around plants has also been observed to be highly influential in changes in genes in order to survive. With this, the ability to pass on said mutations will be determined by several growth stages before the actual genes are fully formed(Cruzan, 2018).

From what has been researched, there is still limited information on the frequency and potential influencing factors that result with mutations occurring. A few plants have been documented, but it cannot be used for every plant as they vary in size and age. It is speculated that different kinds of plants can experience somatic mutation differently and at different rates. As age has been seen to be an influencing factor in shorter lived green leafed plants, longer lived woody types like coniferous pines, seem to develop at a more frequent rate as they live longer. The rate in which it gains mutations is still considered slow to most species, although a gained benefit as the mutation increases genetic diversity within the species. It has also been seen that in trees mutations just among branches and how they affect the organization of meristems(Antolin, 1985). However, in earlier research it has been observed that when it comes to clonal plants, evidence of aging in longer lived plants has either slowed or completely stopped(Ally, 2010). This also has to do with autogamy depression.

(Stuff that is underlined will be linked to other wiki sources)

Refs:

1.     Ally, D., Ritland, K. & Otto S. P. (2010). Aging in a Long-Lived Clonal Tree. PLoS Biol, 8(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000454.

2.      Antolin, M. F & Strobeck, C. (1985). The Population Genetics of Somatic Mutation in Plants. The American Naturalist, 126(1), 52 -62. https://doi.org/10.1086/284395.

3.     Cruzan, M. B. (2018). Evolutionary Biology: A Plant Perspective. Oxford University Press.

4.      Dubrovina, A. S & Kiselev, K. V. (2015). Age-associated alterations in the somatic mutation and             DNA methylation levels in plants. Plant Biology,18(2), 185-196. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12375.

5.      Hanlon, V. C. T., Hanlon, S. P. & Aitken, S. N. (2019). Somatic mutations substantially increase the per-generation mutation rate in the conifer Picea sitchensis. Evolution Letters, 3(4), 348-358. https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.121.

6.      Watson, J. M., Platzer, A., Kazda, A., Akimcheva, S., Valuchova, S., Nizhynska, V., Nordborg, M. & Riha, K. (2016). Germline replications and somatic mutation accumulation are independent of vegetative lifespan in Arabidopsis. PNAS, 113 (43), 12226-12231. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1609686113.