A definitive demonstration of fitness effects due to somatic mutation in a plant

Abstract

The open, meristematic development of plants, in which there is no separation between somatic and germline tissues and cell lineages can become highly ramified while growing great distances, results in bodies that can span wide ranges of size and age while sustaining heavy physical damage. This comes at a cost relative to nearly all animals, in which somatic mutations that accumulate in shoot apical meristems during growth are transmissible to gametes.