While the workings of evolution and its long term effects are well known, the time frame over which they occur is largely uncharted territory. The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany, went out to find some figures by testing the genetic set-up of Arabidopsis thaliana (Mouse-ear cress). The aim of the researchers was to get an insight into evolution before it selects and discards.

To this end, they raised five different research groups of Arabidopsis over 30 generations to compare the genomes of the first and the last generation. By this, they hoped to find what differences in the DNA had surfaced during that time. The comparison showed that in each of the groups around 20 DNA base-pairs had mutated. For added accuracy, they did these comparisons five times over, a time consuming process despite the newest available technology.

Finding 20 mutations within 120 Million base pairs before you in each plant resembles the search for the needle in the haystack, but patience and system prevail especially when assisted by adequate technology. While the number of mutations may seem small compared to the total number of base pairs, this has to be seen in conjunction with the sheer amount of plants being produced in each generation. Each plant produces thousands of seeds, so the amount of plants over 30 generations is staggering.

The speed with which these mutations appeared explains why plants become immune to herbicides in only a few years. And it gives the researchers the mathematics to recalculate certain evolution theories on when two distinct strains of plants became separated. The researchers from the Max Planck Institute therefore think that the separation of Arabidopsis thaliana and the very different sister plant Arabidopsis lyrata (Lyrate rock cress) happened 20 Million years ago, as opposed to the common scientific assumption of 5 Million years ago.

The high rate of mutations also puts the claims of companies who are searching for mutations in plants for resistances or higher yield are not that uncommon as they want us all believe. And addressed to the industry marketing herbicides it contains the message to keep on improving. It shows that herbicides that are tailored to attack one single DNA base pair in a plant are doomed to fail sooner rather than later.

On a hypothetical basis, the researchers assume a similar mutational pattern in humans. In the mass of 6 billion humans living on this planet, it may be assumed statistically that somewhere there is someone with at least one mutated base pair for every part of the genome. At that level, evolution is able to test through mutations at high speed, rather than the assumed working space of thousands or even millions of years.