Ep. 504 - The Genetic Mysteries of Creosote Bush

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Science & Medicine, Natural Sciences

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2024

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What is a species? On the surface, this seems like an easy question to answer. Get a bunch of biologists in the room together and you will quickly see it can be a bit of a loaded question. Questions like this are what drive scientists like Dr. Robert Laport. By looking at genome duplication events in plants like creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), he and his lab are curious how vast differences in genome numbers affect a species interaction with the environment, its pollinators, and even neighboring individuals of that species. Join us for a fun dive into the world of polyploidy! This episode was produced in part by Alana, Sigma, Max, Richard, Maia, Rens, David, Robert, Thomas, Valerie, Joan, Mohsin Kazmi Photography, Cathy, Simon, Nick, Paul, Charis, EJ, Laura, Sung, NOK, Stephen, Heidi, Kristin, Luke, Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the In Defensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of
0:03.9	Indefensiveplants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone
0:08.0	doing this week? We have some new designs and new merch up in our merch store. Just on on over to
0:13.8	Indefensiveplants.com and check out Apparel at the top or the show notes for any episode you're
0:18.6	listening to. I put the links in there. Merch is such a great
0:21.6	way to help support indefensive plants and all of our merch is customizable, so you will find a
0:25.7	style that works for you. But today is a fascinating topic that really starts to get into this idea of
0:32.0	what is a species? And what does it mean when a so-called single species has populations
0:37.3	with vastly different
0:38.5	genetic structure?
0:40.2	Today we're taking another deep dive into the world of creosote bush, which is a very
0:44.5	culturally significant plant for anyone that's ever been in the American Southwest.
0:49.0	It's also a fascinating and ecologically important species that's, as I hinted at, doing fascinating
0:53.9	things genetically,
0:54.7	and it has to do with polyploidy plants with different numbers of chromosomes in their cells.
1:00.1	Joining us to talk about this is Dr. Robert Leport, who's a scientist that is not afraid to ask
1:04.5	difficult questions.
1:06.1	It is a fascinating discussion.
1:07.8	He is very passionate about it, and I don't want to keep it from it any longer, so let's just jump right into it. Without further ado, here's my conversation
1:14.1	with Dr. Robert Laporte. I hope you enjoy. All right, Dr. Robert Laporte, welcome to the podcast.
1:33.9	I am so excited to pick your brain today and learn all about your work.
1:36.8	But for those that don't know who you are, let's start off with an introduction.
	...

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