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

Question

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

Answer 1

I don’t have an exact answer for you on this, but I hope this will shed some light.

Many plants exhibit what is called [polyploidy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyploidy), where they have extra sets of chromosomes. Cells generally have 2 sets of chromosomes, but plants get a little funny and will sometimes have extras.

For *brassicas* (like mustard, broccoli, cabbage, kale…), there’s a theory called the [Triangle of U](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_U) where related species with different numbers of chromosome pairs would make seeds with polyploidy that would then incorporate the pairs into its genome and become a diploid set again.

Point is plant DNA is a little more malleable than animal DNA.

Still though, that piece of the plant that you pulled and cultivated is still the same plant. Some plants are just like that where they can grow if you put part of it in the ground, as long as you have a node (the places where branches grow from) present. The nodes contain plant stem cells such that they can differentiate into roots if underground. With tomato plants, you can let them grow for a little bit and then lay it horizontally under the soil with the top still above the soil, and those nodes will start growing roots and creating stems. Same plant too.