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Question: Do these seeds have any biological or biochemical activity while dormant or are they completely inert for all that time?
by julienchastang 5y ago
Question: Do these seeds have any biological or biochemical activity while dormant or are they completely inert for all that time?
- whyenot 5y agoThey have very reduced biological activity, but they are not inert. Seeds can respond to water, temperature, light, day length, chemicals produced by fire and smoke, and to different plant hormones among other things.
- julienchastang 5y agoFrom a biophysics perspective, I find this really fascinating. These self-contained molecular machines with a co-located energy source can plod along, albeit very slowly, for perhaps hundreds of years and ultimately self-replicate. It seems like this has implications for interstellar colonization, among other things.