Plants Work To Become Best Genetic Configuration Before Proliferating

GreenTracker| The theory of how evolution works is undergoing a series of new understandings. Stephen Smith and his colleagues at Brown University have upset long-held assumptions that when plants develop new, unique characteristics, they almost immediately spin into mass production of a new branch of that botanical species.

Smith’s team says that plants actually tinker with the design and viability of the variation before going into full production of improved versions of themselves.

 … Smith and colleagues from Yale University and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies in Germany compiled the largest plant phylogeny to date, involving 55,473 species of angiosperms (flowering plants), the genealogical line that represents roughly 90 percent of all plants worldwide. The group looked at the genetic profiles for six major angiosperm clades, including grasses (Poaceae), orchids (Orchidaceae), sunflowers (Asteraceae), beans (Fabaceae), eudicots (Eudicotyledoneae), and monocots (Monocottyledoneae). Together, these branches make up 99 percent of flowering plants on Earth.

The botanical ancestor is Mesangiospermae, a clade or grouping of plants with the same geneaology, that emerged 125 million years ago. The variations from these original plants didn’t occur for a long time and proceeded with a certain amount of trial and error. Only when nature is convinced that the new botanical variation is maximumly efficient does it go into full production.

In business terms, Mother Nature doesn’t rush new products to market, on an assumption that she will get the bugs out in subsequent releases of her product. via Science Daily