Why do animal clones die prematurely but plants can be vegetatively propagated (essentially cloned) many times over with no ill effects?

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I’ve read that for animals, say, a cloned mammal the DNA of the original host is the same used for the clone, so it’s already aged and degraded from time. I grow many plants, and so I regularly make clones via cuttings and divisions. So I wonder why the new individuals can have the same vigor as it’s parent plant? Does DNA not degrade in plants? I’ve also read that inbreeding can occur in plants. On a side note, about the super massive tree structure Pando, that Aspen forest from only like 1 tree I think. It’s estimated to be 80,000 years old and is technically a single individual, as every stem (tree) comes from the same roots and has the same DNA. Meaning at some point a long time ago a single seed made 1 tree which eventually became a forest occupying over 100 acres. How does DNA replicate so many times over in plants with no issues? Is it because the differences between plant and animal cells? I don’t know a lot about these things, just a random thought I had. Any explanation would be appreciated 🙂

In: Biology

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

plants can already clone themselves without any help. most plant parts contain at least some meristematic cells with all of the information needed to make a copy of the original plant. plants don’t exclusively clone themselves in the wild because it’s not evolutionary advantageous.

cloning a mammal on the other hand, involves removing the nucleus from an egg and replacing it with the nucleus of a donor cell. it’s something mammals don’t do outside of a lab & the process is kinda error prone and so a lot of those embryos don’t make it.

other than that, mammal clones have similar lifespans to their non-cloned counterparts:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307122958.htm

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