Unusual Hybrid Sparaxis

Nathan Lange plantsman@comcast.net
Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:51:15 PDT

This Sparaxis looks like a beautiful example of a harmless 
transposable element affecting some key enzyme in the biosynthetic 
pathway of the red pigmentation in the petals.  As with most animals, 
active and inactive transposable elements can account for over half 
of some plant genomes.  When they cause variegated flowers like in 
this Sparaxis, transposable elements are frequently mistaken for 
viral infections.  Morning glories and petunias are classic examples.

Nathan


At 11:58 AM 6/12/2013, you wrote:
>This was posted to whatisthisplant on Reddit, it is growing in the 
>Berkeley Hills area. I have never seen anything like it; could the 
>pattern be due to a virus?
>
>http://imgur.com/l4swDk7/
>
>Chad Schroter
>




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