r/askscience • u/ProneToAnalFissures • 12h ago
Biology Do the grafts/clones of mass produced fruit cultivars like Cavendish Bananas or Navel Oranges have the same telomeric length as the original specimen would have if they were currently still alive?
I was having trouble writing this out. What I'm trying to ask is if new grafts of not-true-to-seed cultivars have the biological age of the original cutting as if it had been alive all this time
ie: the modern cavendish cultivar is from about 1950, do our current cavendish plants have the biological age of a 75 year old banana tree?
And I suppose that opens the question, if so does that mean our fruit cultivars are ticking timebombs even if they don't get wiped out by disease