Could the tallest tree in the world also be the oldest? The question remains open, but researchers have tried to provide some answers. Head to Utah, in the Western United States, where there is Pando, an aspen tree (Populus tremuloides) which extends over 43 hectares in the heart of the Fishlake National Forest. Are you wondering how a tree can “spread” over such an area?
In reality, Pando is an organism made up of approximately 47,000 trunks. Due to the way the plant reproduces, this group technically constitutes a single tree, supported by a single, vast root system. Pando is triploid, meaning its cells contain three copies of each chromosome, instead of two. Therefore, Pando cannot reproduce and mix her DNA with that of other trees, but instead creates clones of herself. Although this process generates genetically identical offspring, they also accumulate genetic mutations, called “somatic,” as their cells divide. And it is precisely the latter that allowed researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GeorgiaTech) to estimate the age of Pando, by analyzing DNA samples taken from its leaves, roots and bark.
According to the results obtained — still being validated and published in the journal Nature — Pando is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old, which means that it would have survived the last (…)
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