page_title: Chimera (genetics)
section_title: Graft chimeras
hierarchical_section_title: Chimera (genetics) / Plants / Graft chimeras
caption_attribution_description: English: Taxus baccata
context_page_description: A genetic chimerism or chimera is a single organism composed of cells with more than one distinct genotype. In animals, this means an individual derived from two or more zygotes, which can include possessing blood cells of different blood types, subtle variations in form and, if the zygotes were of differing sexes, then even the possession of both female and male sex organs. Animal chimeras are produced by the merger of multiple fertilized eggs. In plant chimeras, however, the distinct types of tissue may originate from the same zygote, and the difference is often due to mutation during ordinary cell division. Normally, genetic chimerism is not visible on casual inspection; however, it has been detected in the course of proving parentage.
  Another way that chimerism can occur in animals is by organ transplantation, giving one individual tissues that developed from a different genome. For example, transplantation of bone marrow often determines the recipient's ensuing blood type.
context_section_description: These are produced by grafting genetically different parents, different cultivars or different species (which may belong to different genera). The tissues may be partially fused together following grafting to form a single growing organism that preserves both types of tissue in a single shoot. Just as the constituent species are likely to differ in a wide range of features, so the behavior of their periclinal chimeras is like to be highly variable. The first such known chimera was probably the Bizzaria, which is a fusion of the Florentine citron and the sour orange. Well-known examples of a graft-chimera are Laburnocytisus 'Adamii', caused by a fusion of a Laburnum and a broom, and "Family" trees, where multiple varieties of apple or pear are grafted onto the same tree. Many fruit trees are cultivated by grafting the body of a sapling onto a rootstock.
caption: Taxus mosaic
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