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Description

The general process of reproduction of Haematophyta, the "red plants" of Planet Ea .

« You already know that all the cells of your body, no matter how different they look, have all the same genes. Brain cells, liver cells, skin cells, muscle cells, they're all genetically identical. This is also true in Ean animals. But not in Ean plants! In fact, almost every red plant you see growing, from your backyard to the thickest jungle, is actually what scientists call a chimera: a mixture of two kinds of cells that have different genes, even though they might look the same under a microscope.
The body of a red plant is made of many different tissues: the outer rind, the inner pulp, the hydraulic vessels, and so on. Each tissue is made up of specialized types of cell. However, a flat cell of the rind might share all its genes with a very different-looking storage cell of the pulp, but not with an identical-looking flat cell right next to it! So the two kinds of cells with different genes, which are called gamotypes, are all mixed together, and they both take all the shapes that are necessary for the plant's life processes.
What's the point of having cells with two different gene sets, if each alone can do all jobs? Scientists think it's to make harder for germs to spread inside the plant's body. Cells of the two gamotypes mount slightly different defenses against invaders.
How is it possible for a red plant to reproduce, then? The tissues of the plant release special ciliate cells, called gametes, produced from both gamotypes, that meet and fuse in the plant's circulatory system. This is like sperm cells fertilizing an egg, except that the gametes look identical. If two gametes of the same gamotype fuse, the resulting cell dies and is digested. If the gametes are of two different gamotypes, than the resulting cell is a hybrid with genes from both gametes (the excess PNA< /a> is also digested). But this is not always the case.
Isn't God's creation marvelous? Hypotheses based on Fracturist ideas would predict that one gamotype would put all its energy into producing gametes, so that its genes are more represented in the propagules. This would force the other to produce vital tissues and throw away most of its fitness, or else to respond in kind, which would turn all plants in shapeless masses that do nothing but split. So it would be impossible for Ean plants to evolve complexity: at best, they could aspire to be red slime, just like their bacterial ancestors! Their example teaches us a beautiful lesson about humility and cooperation.
Hopefully many such fusions occur, but one is enough. The hybrid cell divides and forms a slimy mass that circulates freely in the plant (this is what parasol tree syrup is made of). When it reaches the reproductive organs of the plant, which are usually called bulbs, or simply the plant's surface if there's no such organ, then the mass comes to the surface. This is the new baby plant that comes out, in liquid form, from the parent. Usually it forms droplets or soft buds, each of which might break off and become a propagule.
The first red plants on land simply let their propagules drip to the ground or be washed down by rain, while their aquatic ancestors let them go into the water. Others, like the tallest candlesticks, make a kind of foam that the wind carries away. Many use animals for dispersal, making a kind of glue that sticks on their bodies as they pass through, like the beartrap plant, or as they feed on a sweet liquid part of the propagule that resembles nectar. Sometimes all the bulb is sweet and edible, like the "fruits" of the yellow nopal, which people eat as well (in the wild, kirikits break them off and leave propagules everywhere on their way back to the nest). Spongegrass sticks its propagules under the feet of animals that trample it. In some species, bulbs break open on their own (this is called dehiscence) to scatter propagules as far around as possible. For example, the bulbs of the sneezing tree burst when its root hairs feel motion nearby.
One way or the other, the propagules reach the right ground. There they release substances that attract other propagules produced by different plants of the same species. Since they are mostly liquid, the propagules can crawl on their own like amoebae or colloplasms (remember those? Look again at chapter 6 if you don't). When they finally meet, they mix their bodies. Whereas the sperm and egg cells of Earth's animals fuse and put their genes together before they grow into a new organism, the reproductive cells of red plants stick to each other without fusing, and form a chimera.
It's not always this way. Sometimes, three or four propagules meet and form a chimerical plant with three or four types of cells. Scientists once found a fan tree with at least nine kinds of cells in a very dense part of the Oshun Jungle. Sometimes, instead, a propagule founds no one to merge with, or finds only mates from the same parent, and grows into a plant by itself. This plant is non-chimerical, and all its cells have the same genes. Some species, like Jankowski's menorah tree, do this on purpose. Non-chimerical plants grow fast when there is plenty of room and light, but it's hard for them to defend against germs when they start crowding. More rarely, propagules from different species can meet. If they are closely related species, the chimerical plant can stil grow up healthy, but it almost never manages to reproduce because its gametes do not fuse well. »
– Green and Red: Introduction to Compared Biology for Primary Schools (11th edition), Ministry of Education, Olduvai, 299 AL

« This is precisely the sort of nonsense that, sooner or later, will prevent our nation (and I say "our nation", even as I write from my office in Karisoke) from remaining competitive with the others! Not to mention that it makes, excuse me, a fool out of the One, positing a broken creation that requires special interventions to function. Of course chimerical haematophytes fit God's flourishing as much as anything else; but do Green and Red's authors not believe that He could plan natural processes that lead to the desired outcome without this sort of clumsy tinkering? Do they think He is less skilled at His job than your average codeweaver?
I am a Umojan, and will be one to my rejoining, though my firm belief in the integrity of scientific inquiry has cost me my professorship and several quite cruel accusations of fracturism and apostasy. I would point out that I refused multiple offers of professorship from the New World Academy over their history of contempt for our shared faith.
First of all, it's simply not true that the two gamotypes of an individual are perfectly interchangeable. Often they bear mutations that allow them to specialize for different purposes, e.g. one gamotype might be better at sulfur metabolism and another at xylan synthesis. This means that multiple-gamotype organisms may thrive more than genetically homogeneous ones, at least in certain conditions – a special case of hybrid vigor, if you will. And their difference might be exploited for different conditions, for example developing more the sulfur-efficient gamotype when inorganic sulfur is scarce.
Secondly, runaway defection does, in fact, occur! It just does not stay viable enough! If a cheater mutant could leave all non-reproductive functions to its healthy companion over multiple generations, then yes, the mutation would spread very extensively and spell disaster for the chimerical organization. But it's not actually possible to make a whole functional plant out of a single gamotype, because the same signals that allow gametes to recognize each other also play a crucial role in development. On that regard, see Metharom's work on GTD-group genes.
A single-gamotype plant has fundamentally broken ontogenesis, and does, as the author mention, develop into a puddle of "red slime". But this radically reduces the fitness of the cheater as well, and therefore natural selection punishes the mutation and does not allow it to spread to the whole species. Exceptions such as Jankowskia occur when a rare mutation affects developmental triggers as well. Not to mention the explanation that the textbook itself provides, namely the increased vulnerability to disease!
Thirdly, a few sucessful defectors do exist. There are several known examples of secondarily unicellular haematophytes that crawl into others' bodies and inject their gametes or propagules into the host's lymphstream. The common scab-rust (Rubigella vulneraria) is an example. Hosts have immunitary defenses against such parasites; they do not pose a problem to chimerical organisms anymore than the existence of cancer poses a problem to genetically homogeneous organisms. The One does not need to put crutches on His work: He gets it right the first time.
I doubt this letter will actually reach the Epistle's kind readers, but whoever is reading right now, rafiki, brother, I beg you to meditate on these words! Has not the Prophet said, "He who seeks the One more warmly than he seeks truth shall find neither" (LJY, 23)? God's glory does not fear the truth, whatever it will be. »
– Ashoka Jansen, letter to the Olduvai Epistle, 303 AL; from the archives of the Office for the Promotion of Virtue

Description

The general process of reproduction of Haematophyta, the "red plants" of Planet Ea .

« You already know that all the cells of your body, no matter how different they look, have all the same genes. Brain cells, liver cells, skin cells, muscle cells, they're all genetically identical. This is also true in Ean animals. But not in Ean plants! In fact, almost every red plant you see growing, from your backyard to the thickest jungle, is actually what scientists call a chimera: a mixture of two kinds of cells that have different genes, even though they might look the same under a microscope.
The body of a red plant is made of many different tissues: the outer rind, the inner pulp, the hydraulic vessels, and so on. Each tissue is made up of specialized types of cell. However, a flat cell of the rind might share all its genes with a very different-looking storage cell of the pulp, but not with an identical-looking flat cell right next to it! So the two kinds of cells with different genes, which are called gamotypes, are all mixed together, and they both take all the shapes that are necessary for the plant's life processes.
What's the point of having cells with two different gene sets, if each alone can do all jobs? Scientists think it's to make harder for germs to spread inside the plant's body. Cells of the two gamotypes mount slightly different defenses against invaders.
How is it possible for a red plant to reproduce, then? The tissues of the plant release special ciliate cells, called gametes, produced from both gamotypes, that meet and fuse in the plant's circulatory system. This is like sperm cells fertilizing an egg, except that the gametes look identical. If two gametes of the same gamotype fuse, the resulting cell dies and is digested. If the gametes are of two different gamotypes, than the resulting cell is a hybrid with genes from both gametes (the excess PNA< /a> is also digested). But this is not always the case.
Isn't God's creation marvelous? Hypotheses based on Fracturist ideas would predict that one gamotype would put all its energy into producing gametes, so that its genes are more represented in the propagules. This would force the other to produce vital tissues and throw away most of its fitness, or else to respond in kind, which would turn all plants in shapeless masses that do nothing but split. So it would be impossible for Ean plants to evolve complexity: at best, they could aspire to be red slime, just like their bacterial ancestors! Their example teaches us a beautiful lesson about humility and cooperation.
Hopefully many such fusions occur, but one is enough. The hybrid cell divides and forms a slimy mass that circulates freely in the plant (this is what parasol tree syrup is made of). When it reaches the reproductive organs of the plant, which are usually called bulbs, or simply the plant's surface if there's no such organ, then the mass comes to the surface. This is the new baby plant that comes out, in liquid form, from the parent. Usually it forms droplets or soft buds, each of which might break off and become a propagule.
The first red plants on land simply let their propagules drip to the ground or be washed down by rain, while their aquatic ancestors let them go into the water. Others, like the tallest candlesticks, make a kind of foam that the wind carries away. Many use animals for dispersal, making a kind of glue that sticks on their bodies as they pass through, like the beartrap plant, or as they feed on a sweet liquid part of the propagule that resembles nectar. Sometimes all the bulb is sweet and edible, like the "fruits" of the yellow nopal, which people eat as well (in the wild, kirikits break them off and leave propagules everywhere on their way back to the nest). Spongegrass sticks its propagules under the feet of animals that trample it. In some species, bulbs break open on their own (this is called dehiscence) to scatter propagules as far around as possible. For example, the bulbs of the sneezing tree burst when its root hairs feel motion nearby.
One way or the other, the propagules reach the right ground. There they release substances that attract other propagules produced by different plants of the same species. Since they are mostly liquid, the propagules can crawl on their own like amoebae or colloplasms (remember those? Look again at chapter 6 if you don't). When they finally meet, they mix their bodies. Whereas the sperm and egg cells of Earth's animals fuse and put their genes together before they grow into a new organism, the reproductive cells of red plants stick to each other without fusing, and form a chimera.
It's not always this way. Sometimes, three or four propagules meet and form a chimerical plant with three or four types of cells. Scientists once found a fan tree with at least nine kinds of cells in a very dense part of the Oshun Jungle. Sometimes, instead, a propagule founds no one to merge with, or finds only mates from the same parent, and grows into a plant by itself. This plant is non-chimerical, and all its cells have the same genes. Some species, like Jankowski's menorah tree, do this on purpose. Non-chimerical plants grow fast when there is plenty of room and light, but it's hard for them to defend against germs when they start crowding. More rarely, propagules from different species can meet. If they are closely related species, the chimerical plant can stil grow up healthy, but it almost never manages to reproduce because its gametes do not fuse well. »
– Green and Red: Introduction to Compared Biology for Primary Schools (11th edition), Ministry of Education, Olduvai, 299 AL

« This is precisely the sort of nonsense that, sooner or later, will prevent our nation (and I say "our nation", even as I write from my office in Karisoke) from remaining competitive with the others! Not to mention that it makes, excuse me, a fool out of the One, positing a broken creation that requires special interventions to function. Of course chimerical haematophytes fit God's flourishing as much as anything else; but do Green and Red's authors not believe that He could plan natural processes that lead to the desired outcome without this sort of clumsy tinkering? Do they think He is less skilled at His job than your average codeweaver?
I am a Umojan, and will be one to my rejoining, though my firm belief in the integrity of scientific inquiry has cost me my professorship and several quite cruel accusations of fracturism and apostasy. I would point out that I refused multiple offers of professorship from the New World Academy over their history of contempt for our shared faith.
First of all, it's simply not true that the two gamotypes of an individual are perfectly interchangeable. Often they bear mutations that allow them to specialize for different purposes, e.g. one gamotype might be better at sulfur metabolism and another at xylan synthesis. This means that multiple-gamotype organisms may thrive more than genetically homogeneous ones, at least in certain conditions – a special case of hybrid vigor, if you will. And their difference might be exploited for different conditions, for example developing more the sulfur-efficient gamotype when inorganic sulfur is scarce.
Secondly, runaway defection does, in fact, occur! It just does not stay viable enough! If a cheater mutant could leave all non-reproductive functions to its healthy companion over multiple generations, then yes, the mutation would spread very extensively and spell disaster for the chimerical organization. But it's not actually possible to make a whole functional plant out of a single gamotype, because the same signals that allow gametes to recognize each other also play a crucial role in development. On that regard, see Metharom's work on GTD-group genes.
A single-gamotype plant has fundamentally broken ontogenesis, and does, as the author mention, develop into a puddle of "red slime". But this radically reduces the fitness of the cheater as well, and therefore natural selection punishes the mutation and does not allow it to spread to the whole species. Exceptions such as Jankowskia occur when a rare mutation affects developmental triggers as well. Not to mention the explanation that the textbook itself provides, namely the increased vulnerability to disease!
Thirdly, a few sucessful defectors do exist. There are several known examples of secondarily unicellular haematophytes that crawl into others' bodies and inject their gametes or propagules into the host's lymphstream. The common scab-rust (Rubigella vulneraria) is an example. Hosts have immunitary defenses against such parasites; they do not pose a problem to chimerical organisms anymore than the existence of cancer poses a problem to genetically homogeneous organisms. The One does not need to put crutches on His work: He gets it right the first time.
I doubt this letter will actually reach the Epistle's kind readers, but whoever is reading right now, rafiki, brother, I beg you to meditate on these words! Has not the Prophet said, "He who seeks the One more warmly than he seeks truth shall find neither" (LJY, 23)? God's glory does not fear the truth, whatever it will be. »
– Ashoka Jansen, letter to the Olduvai Epistle, 303 AL; from the archives of the Office for the Promotion of Virtue