Because plants do not possess a defined germline, deleterious somatic mutations can be passed to gametes, and a large number of cell divisions separating zygote from gamete formation may lead to many mutations in long-lived plants. We sequenced the genome of two terminal branches of a 234-year-old oak tree and found several fixed somatic single-nucleotide variants whose sequential appearance in the tree could be traced along nested sectors of younger branches. Our data suggest that stem cells of shoot meristems in trees are robustly protected from the accumulation of mutations.

中文翻译：

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寿命长的橡树中固定的体细胞突变数量少。

由于植物不具有确定的种系，有害的体细胞突变可以传递给配子，并且将合子与配子形成分离的大量细胞分裂可能导致长寿植物中发生许多突变。我们对一棵有234年历史的橡树的两个末端分支的基因组进行了测序，发现了几个固定的体细胞单核苷酸变体，其在树中的顺序出现可以沿着较年轻的分支的嵌套部分进行追踪。我们的数据表明，树木中芽分生组织的干细胞得到了强有力的保护，免受突变的积累。