Blogpost #8: A Matter of Selection - Sydney Stitt
Introduction Natural selection seems to have affected plants for thousands - maybe millions , of years. Natural selection and adaptation allows specific traits best fit for the environment to succeed, as less-fit traits soon become extinct. Brassica oleracea , the species we're currently working on, is no exception to natural selection. Like many other species on our planet, brassica plants came from a common ancestor - wild cabbage. Yet it's been hundreds to thousands of years since adaptions from wild cabbage began - leaving plenty of room (and time) for mutations, gene shuffling (caused by meiosis) and random assortment of genetic material to create different variations and traits. The many different types of brassica plants clearly exemplify these variety of traits. As I studied the plants one day, I noticed how different these plants seemed to appear. The phenotypes of many of these plants were completely unlike one another! Some plants had spindly, purple spikes wi...
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