Author Topic: Real-life Mutations  (Read 4099 times)

Offline bacillus

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« on: October 10, 2008, 05:26:07 PM »
Over here, we get this invasive bush that flowers bright yellow every year. This year I noticed a red bush in the midst of the yellow bushes, looks exactly the same except for the red flowers. An example of spontaneous mutation?
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Offline Numsgil

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« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2008, 05:38:29 PM »
Might be, but probably it's a case of dominant/recessive genes.  The yellow color might be recessive, with the red color being dominant, and the red gene isn't very common.

Offline bacillus

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« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2008, 08:07:24 PM »
Looked it up, it's called Ulex europaeus, and there's no mention of it flowering red, so probably not likely.
"They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."
- Carl Sagan

Offline Numsgil

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« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2008, 01:58:36 PM »
If you're really feeling scientific, you can try breeding the yellow and red and see what results you get.  Sort of a mendel experiment.

Offline Peter

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« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2008, 03:04:24 PM »
I once tried that with Four-leaf_clover several years ago, after most where three-leaves but still, you could find rather easily a bunch of four-leaves in the bush, so there where pretty much of them.
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Offline bacillus

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« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2008, 11:45:24 PM »
Seems to have stopped flowering a shorter time ago than the yellow ones, but I'll keep it in mind next time (if they come up again). We had a practical in horticulture similar to that this year (while I was on holiday   )
« Last Edit: October 13, 2008, 11:50:21 PM by bacillus »
"They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."
- Carl Sagan