Vascular plant cells generally have the ability to differentiate into various types of tissue–a fact long known to horticulturists who propagate plants by cuttings

This means that plants do not display the strict separation of germline and somatic cells that animals do. Might this be expected to accelerate or decelerate evolution in plants relative to animals?


Since somatic cell lines can become germline in plants (as when vegetative cells give rise to germ-bearing flower tissue), somatic mutations can become heritable. Opportunities for the generation and propagation of heritable genetic variants would be greater in plants as a result. One consequence of this could be more rapid evolution in some cases, but a host of other factors play a role in setting evolutionary rates.

Biology & Microbiology

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