九乡新闻网高娓娓移民:被啃过的植物能暴增ＤＮＡ
来源：百度文库 编辑：九乡新闻网 时间：2024/04/29 15:11:33
在饥饿的草食动物眼里，身边的植物就象煮熟的鸭子一样方便食用。而对于其中一些绿色植物，被啃掉一点点是再好不过的事了。比起没被碰过的状态，它们生长得更快，更饱满，种子也结得更多。科学家们已经弄明白这是怎么回事儿了——植物大量储备了ＤＮＡ。该项研究成果已发表在《生态》期刊上。
Most animals have two full sets of chromosomes: one inherited from mom and one from dad. But plants don’t play by the same rules. Banana plants have three full sets; strawberries eight. And plants that get noshed on may take a similar tack.
大多数动物有两套染色体，妈妈给一套，爸爸给一套。植物可不是这么玩儿的，香蕉有三套染色体，草莓有八套，被啃的植物与之类似。
Scientists took two strings of plants: one that comes back strong after grazing, another that wilts. And they found that the plants that bounce back after clipping boost their DNA content—some of their cells go from having 10 chromosomes to having 320.
科学家研究了两组植物：一组在被啃食过之后回复健壮，另一组枯萎了。他们发现，那些受损后迅速恢复的植物ＤＮＡ含量暴增——其中一些原本只有１０个染色体细胞，已经拥有了３２０个染色体。
The added DNA may allow the plants to rapidly make the proteins they need to grow and to produce seeds. And the size of the nucleus needed to contain all those chromosomes may make those cells bigger and bigger cells means a bigger plant. So chewed-on plants can fight back, and they are not afraid to go nuclear.
增加的ＤＮＡ让植物可以更快地制造出生长和产生种子所需的蛋白质；细胞核增大以容纳暴增的染色体，相应地细胞也会增大，更大的细胞意味着更大的植株。看来，被“菜”的植物也会反击，而且毫不畏惧打“核”战。