Create an Account
username: password:
 
  MemeStreams Logo

Startling Scientists, Plant Fixes Its Flawed Gene

search

Shannon
Picture of Shannon
Shannon's Pics
My Blog
My Profile
My Audience
My Sources
Send Me a Message

sponsored links

Shannon's topics
Arts
  Literature
  Movies
  Music
  Photography
  Theater
  TV
Business
Games
Health and Wellness
Home and Garden
Miscellaneous
  Humor
  MemeStreams
   Using MemeStreams
Current Events
  War on Terrorism
  Elections
  Israeli/Palestinian
  North Ireland
Recreation
Local Information
Science
Society
Sports
Technology
  Biotechnology
  Computers

support us

Get MemeStreams Stuff!


 
Startling Scientists, Plant Fixes Its Flawed Gene
Topic: Science 3:07 pm EST, Mar 23, 2005

In a startling discovery, geneticists at Purdue University say they have found plants that possess a corrected version of a defective gene inherited from both their parents, as if some handy backup copy with the right version had been made in the grandparents' generation or earlier.

The finding implies that some organisms may contain a cryptic backup copy of their genome that bypasses the usual mechanisms of heredity. If confirmed, it would represent an unprecedented exception to the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel in the 19th century. Equally surprising, the cryptic genome appears not to be made of DNA, the standard hereditary material.

The discovery also raises interesting biological questions -- including whether it gets in the way of evolution, which depends on mutations changing an organism rather than being put right by a backup system.

[ Fascinating. -k]

Startling Scientists, Plant Fixes Its Flawed Gene



 
 
Powered By Industrial Memetics
RSS2.0