[Avodah] etrog genetics

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 08:06:56PM -0800, saul newman via Avodah wrote:
: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/40/7/1963.full.pdf+html
: 
: all analyzed species were at  least 95% related, whether moroc , yemen,
: calabria, or israel...

Since grafting doesn't change the genetics of the fruit seeds, this is
measuring cross-breeding more than eliminating murkav altogether.

The article is more that the search for esrogim that were never grafted
did not push different Jewish communities to use different fruit.

But what does "95% related" mean? 

They say that out of 190 genetic fragments, 160 were monomorphic,
while 30 showed polymorphism. But I don't know enough genetics or
botony to know how strongly that indicates a single species.

Humans differ from eachother by about .1% of our DNA and if you go
as far as 1% out, you could be calling humans, chimps and bonobos all
one species. (In "The Science of Discworld" the authors make a case
for calling our bodies pan narans -- the storytelling chimp, rather
than homo sapien.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Life isn't about finding yourself
micha at aishdas.org        Life is about creating yourself.
http://www.aishdas.org                - Bernard Shaw
Fax: (270) 514-1507