New preprint up! We sequenced hundreds of samples from across one of Earth's oldest living organisms - the Pando aspen clone - to understand how mutations accumulate and spread in long-lived clonal organisms. Our results were…surprising. 1/30
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Blimey a Pando aspen clone estimated to be between 16,000 and 80,000 years old covering some 106 acres. Chapeau to @wcratcliff.bsky.social and his colleagues in using a variety of techniques (seems to me anyway) in determining this.
This work represents a massive collaboration, led by @rpineau.bsky.social and Zach Gompert, with crucial help from Karen Mock, Jesse Morris, Vachel Kraklow, Andrea Brunelle, and Aurore Pageot. This team brings together expertise in evolution, genomics, botany, and paleoecology. 2/30
First, what is Pando? It's a single quaking aspen that has spread to cover 106 acres (42.6 hectares) in Utah through root sprouting. While we knew it was big, both its age and how it has maintained genetic integrity over time have remained mysteries. 3/30
Using principal component analysis of >22,000 genetic variants, we could clearly distinguish Pando samples from surrounding clones. The samples cluster beautifully in PCA space. 4/30
When we map these genetic differences back onto physical space, we see clear boundaries of where Pando ends and other clones begin. This confirms previous work on Pando's physical extent. 5/30
A key challenge: how do you find rare mutations that arose during Pando's growth (somatic mutations) among all the genetic variation? We developed a clever approach using technical replicates to validate these rare variants. 6/30
By sequencing the same samples multiple times, we could distinguish real somatic mutations from sequencing errors. This was crucial - these mutations are our window into Pando's history. 7/30
I'm just gobsmacked, and wondering how hardy it is, as it sounds like it might be the sort of plant that road builders would be interested in for embankments and the like.
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I'm just gobsmacked, and wondering how hardy it is, as it sounds like it might be the sort of plant that road builders would be interested in for embankments and the like.