They do develop tumors, which the paper discusses.
Yes plant cells are all firmly attached to one another, so having cells migrate around the body and spread everywhere is a lot more difficult than in animals.
Surprisingly, that isn’t all the article talks about. For example: “it is interesting to note that plant stem cells and their immediate progeny are hypersensitive to DNA damage and undergo programmed cell death that, as proposed in animals, might be used as a mechanism to prevent accumulation of mutations in stem cell populations.” It cites this open-access article from PNAS.
It notes, as you said, that metastasis is functionally impossible.
That makes sense. Plants have no control over what chemicals they intake. Whatever is in the soil and water around their roots, they’re going to take up. If there are chemicals that damage the plant’s stem cells’ DNA, they need a way to protect against a bunch of mutations that harm the plant’s ability to grow correctly.
I mean we have this vascular system with highly nutrient dense liquid flowing around full of living cells. Isn’t plants just water and nutrients?
Sorry to say that I did look at ResearchGate before posting and did find this. However, this is a “Request full-text” entry, meaning you need an account to message the authors about why you would like to access it and hope they accept your request.
I still appreciate you trying to help.
just slapping the link down for others who want it :)
