If only the weeds would keep their genes to themselves
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 16:14
in Biology & Nature
Family can be a blessing and a curse, and never more so than in the case of crop plants and their wild relatives. These wild and weedy relatives harbor unique and beneficial genes that may no longer be found in their cultivated siblings, but they also harbor genetic traits that farmers have intentionally selected against in their domesticated brethren. The close genetic relationships between some crop species and their wild relatives allow them to readily hybridize, sharing both the beneficial and problematic genes with each other.