Darwinbots Forum

General => Biology => Topic started by: bacillus on October 10, 2008, 05:26:07 PM

Title: Real-life Mutations
Post by: bacillus 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?
Title: Real-life Mutations
Post by: Numsgil 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.
Title: Real-life Mutations
Post by: bacillus 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.
Title: Real-life Mutations
Post by: Numsgil 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.
Title: Real-life Mutations
Post by: Peter 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.
Title: Real-life Mutations
Post by: bacillus 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   )