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by durai raja on April 13th, 2005

durai raja

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What is "genetic variability" in regards to plants?

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  • by notmrjohn on April 28th, 2005

    notmrjohn

    The same as it is in regard to any living thing. The variable part refers to how different the genetic material is between individuals of the same species. Examples are easier than a definition. (For me at least.) There is less genetic variability(GV) between offspring and it's parent than between it and it's great grandparent. There is even less between the offspring, siblings,of the same parents. The least GV is in one celled plants that reproduce by cell division, both new plants have the same genetic material. They are 'clones.' There is greater GV between a seed you plant today and same kind of plant that grew 100 yrs ago.The farther apart from a direct line of descent on the family tree two plants are, the greater the possibility of GV. That's because each plant gets half its genes from each of two parents, which each got half from two and on and on back.The combinations can get numerically astronomical. It's important because a certain gene combination may make a plant more vulnerable to certain conditions. ( Or the opposite, able to withstand certain conditions) Let's just say the condition is K disease, something I made up. If there is a population with low GV and K hits the entire species may be wiped out. The susceptible plants may be wiped out in a given area but if there is a high GV, others will replace them. If it was a resistance to K the larger population may be wiped out and the low GV plants replace them. In that case there may be other genetic differences between the lowGV and highGV groups, differences so great that the two groups can no longer interbreed and a new species may arise.

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