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.
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.