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Endophytes as Subroutines

Fungi that live in plants can actively determine under what conditions its host-plant can grow or thrive.

If we swap out the endophytes (fungal/bacterial) of a plant that grows in salty soils for the endophytes used by plants thriving in hot geothermal soils then that plant can no longer thrive in salty soils. But it can now grow in hot geothermal soils and vice versa.

This, in my view, is more about epigenetics (the study of heritable traits, or a stable change of cell function, that happen without changes to the DNA sequence) than anything else.

Plants, animals and more are communities of genetically unrelated entities that forge a platform that is able to thrive for the benefit of all involved. Or, so it would seem. One thing is certain: The plant living in salty soil is able to do so not because of it's own genetics but because of it's interaction with a completely different genome.

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Discussion

plantimals 11mo ago

#plantimals

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atyh 11mo ago

this sphere of research is so important right now.

Econ guy Konrad 11mo ago

Like how fecal transplants can change the way people think and act

Nunya Bidness 11mo ago

Indeed. Sounds gross and all but the gut biome is extraordinary.

mjsw 11mo ago

What are some examples of plants adapting to one extreme environment to another with the help of completely different endophytes?

Nunya Bidness 11mo ago

The example above is about simple grasses. Grasses are a great example of the plants your asking about.

Varangos ☦ 11mo ago

For a few years now I've been of the opinion that epigenetics is likely a better explanation of adaptation and evolution, more so than "random mutation". Especially given that it has been demonstrated to reinforce in populations where multiple generations are subjected to the same pressures. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there's also a feedback between the epigenetic mechanisms and the encoding (not just expression) of genes.

Nunya Bidness 11mo ago

I'm pretty sure that you are correct. It makes sense.

mjsw 11mo ago

A bit too simplistic of an explanation. I say that because the mechanisms of adaptation and evolution vary wildly depending on the lineage. Microbes, especially bacteria, have very plastic genomes where they take up and shed genetic material depending on the environmental conditions. The same is true for fungi to an extent, but there are other mechanisms at play in their evolution, like segmental duplications and mobile elements. Plants on the other hand can easily undergo whole genome duplications so they can end up with many copies of the same genes that change over time, of even the duplication itself leading to unforeseen new traits through novel recombinations. Potatoes come to mind, for example. Plants and animals generally have expansive genomes that are seemingly "empty" but could actually be a pool of protogenes that are expressed en masse that provides tinkering material.

Varangos ☦ 11mo ago

I don't know what you mean by epigenetics being a "simplistic" explanation. Lateral gene transfer is another interesting mechanism, I'm glad you brought it up.

I'm not ruling out that random change has a role to play, but I'm not convinced that it is sufficient. I also don't know that the plant genome duplication/recombination process is properly described as "random". I think there's likely an organizing principle that isn't yet understood.

My point is that I don't believe we have a full picture, or that the standard explanation is entirely on the right track. This isn't my field, I've read about genetics and epigenetics on my own, and in college have done labs on DNA sequencing. But my intuition tells me it may be related to the superconductive nature of DNA, which we never hear about in mainstream science.

If there CAN be an organizing principle relating to superconductivity of DNA, I think it would likely be a common factor to each the paradigms discussed (epigenetics, lateral gene transfer, and recombination).