Slashdot Mirror


Scientists Measure How Quickly Plant Genes Mutate

eldavojohn writes "A recent study puts observed numbers on genome mutations in plants. This kind of research is becoming more popular in understanding evolution. The research 'followed all genetic changes in five lines of the mustard relative Arabidopsis thaliana that occurred during 30 generations. In the genome of the final generation they then searched for differences to the genome of the original ancestor.' A single generation has about a one in 140 million chance of mutating any letter of the genome (which has about 120 million base pairs). Sound like bad odds? From the article, 'if one starts to consider that they occur in the genomes of every member of a species, it becomes clear how fluid the genome is: In a collection of only 60 million Arabidopsis plants, each letter in the genome is changed, on average, once. For an organism that produces thousands of seeds in each generation, 60 million is not such a big number at all.' The academic paper is available in Science, though seeing more than the abstract requires a subscription."

1 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Re:evolution ? by tomhath · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yea, I took symbolic logic too. In your example you've proven that the conditions you believe represent Z did not produce Y. So either you didn't really produce condition Z (even though you thought you did), or your assumptions are wrong. But none of that matters, nor does it matter that some people cling to a supernatural explanation of what they observe in the real world.

    What's more important is whether transferring hundreds of billions of dollars from developed countries to less developed countries is a better idea than using that money to minimize further change or adjust to the change as it happens. The AWG alarmists need to distance themselves from the one world government crowd.