Plants can be much finer than what we think of them

It is foolish to try to transfer the human behaviors in animals, but we can call one or another animal "noble" because it unselfishly helps others. This phenomenon is called altruism. The news is that altruists are not only people and animals but also plants.
Of course, plants can not be the same sophisticated features of altruism, like animals, who care for their cubs: to feed, protect and care for them until a certain age. And not only about their own. There are cases where the primates 'adopts' kittens. Selfless plants much more prudently and probably applies only to the members of their species.

Researchers from the University of Colorado studied two "kids" in the developing fertilized seed corn. One of them - the embryo, and the second is a fabric known as the endosperm, and serves as a source of nutrients for the growing embryo, sometimes even at the cost of his own existence. It is assumed that the endosperm is not completely absorbed by the embryo for the reproductive process and the fetus becomes a part of the plant, and we, the people, in the end it is used for food.

In most cases, after the grain becomes fertilized as a result of cross-pollination to other plants, the embryo and endosperm are the same parents - "mother" and "father." But in some rare cases, they will have the same "mother", but different "fathers." Researchers want to make sure that the endosperm is in this case less likely to sacrifice themselves because the genetic similarities between him and embryo below.

The results showed that this is true: embryos whose endosperm with the same "mother" and "father", receive considerably more nutrients and better developed than in the second case. This probably means that genetically similar "brothers" and "sisters" among the plants easier to cooperate with each other.

People may say that this is a manifestation of selfishness, but because evolution works - "selfish" organisms are more likely to survive to reproductive age. The endosperm is not only waives the right to life, and actively chooses death, if it can help it survive the "brother" of "mother" and "father", but will not do anything like this for another embryo. And it is - to a large extent a manifestation of altruism.

via factroom.ru