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Of Superheroes and Mutants

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Mutation in grasses
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 Question? When are grasses not your average grasses?

Answer: When the grasses are mutants.

In the first Spiderman movie, we get to see how Peter Parker gets his powers; he was bitten by a radioactive spider. The spider itself was a mutant, a mixture of abilities from different species of spiders. The end result of the bite was to turn the DNA of Peter Parker to include the powers of the various species of the spiders.

If you think that was weird, you should try to remember another movie “The X-Men”, about a group of men and women with powers of mind reading, walking through walls, controlling the weather (no, she's not a bomoh), magnetic energy, etc. Some of the powers are mind-boggling. I am not going to go into film review but the real purpose here is to introduce to you mutations in general and hopefully it will be easier for you to understand mutations in turfgrasses.

 In Malaysian golf course construction work, we take great pains in selecting the right grass for the greens. Due to the familiarity to Tifdwarf, we would usually choose it for the greens. The question that we have been asking and we were asked:  “What is the right Tifdwarf?”.  Almost everybody and their mother claim that their Tifdwarf is the “right” Tifdwarf. I went from one end of the Malaysian peninsula to the other researching for the right Tifdwarf. My quest, which brought more questions than answers, ended when I decided to use grass from a source that I could verify where the mother plant came from. I’d like to share what I’ve learnt on this quest.

 In the beginning there were Common Bermuda, which mutated into a variety called Tifgreen which somehow mutated into another variety called Tifdwarf. And that is what most Malaysian golf courses claim are being planted now on their greens. Have you noticed though, how the so-called Tifdwarf from one golf course seem to differ from another's?  Sometimes, you can see a difference from one green to another in the same golf course. Heck, take a good look around you on the green and you can even see patches of different grass on the same green.  The difference? The leaf may be longer or shorter; or the individual plant is coarser and bigger or finer and smaller: Mutation can work in ways that are not consistent (think X-men).

And so at one golf course the golfers will call the Superintendent to go to behind the store, hold him by the collar, slam him against the wall and ask him The Question. At another golf course, they will call him to an expensive restaurant, buy him a delicious lunch, bow three times and ask him The Question.

"What" they ask "is mutation?"

Mutation is a change in the hereditary material of an organism's cells. Hereditary material consists of genes and chromosomes. Genes, which are composed of a substance called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), determine the hereditary traits of an organism.

The Origins of Tifdwarf

In the 1920’s it was reported that greens in the southern States of the US were using common Bermudagrass.  It cannot be cut at low heights and is prone to diseases. The search was on for a grass that can (a) survive in the warm south, (b) can be cut at low cutting heights, (c) withstand disease and insect attacks, (d) able to survive heavy traffic and the list goes on.

In 1952, in Tifton, Georgia, a variety of bermudagrass, called Tifgreen or also known as Tifton 328 was identified with some of these qualities (as compared to the common Bermudagrass in use at that time). All this was relative, if the common Bermuda can be cut to a minimum of 10mm, Tifgreen can be cut at 8 or even 5mm for short durations. This variety was cutivated - so that there were more of this variety for propagation - hence it is called a ‘cultivated variety’ or 'cultivar' for short and sent to a few golf clubs as an experimental turfgrass for greens.

A few years later, some of these golf clubs saw in their plot of turf a few patches of dwarf turf. It was believed to be a natural dwarf mutant that occurred in Tifgreen while it was being tested at the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station. Apparently, each of the golf courses obtained a few dwarf sprigs along with the Tifgreen sent out in for the experiment. It was thoroughly evaluated in comparison with Tifgreen and Tifway that was in use at that time. They discovered it was better than what they have then and the result is that, from then onwards Tifdwarf is used almost everywhere the weather doesn’t allow for bentgrass.

Superhero or Supervillain?

Therefore yes, the grasses you see being planted on most of Malaysian greens; Tifdwarf, is a mutant of Tifgreen, which is a mutant of Common Bermuda. So ladies and gentlemen, you are playing on a mutant. Ha! I hope that makes you think twice before cursing the green next time you miss a putt.  Would you curse Spiderman? Since it is the kind of grass that we want, I would call it a mutant Superhero. If it starts mutating again, it’s probably going to be Supervillain, then you can curse all you want.

You see, there is a possibility that the grass could mutate again into another variety or maybe the genes decided to find their roots (pun intended) and the next generation will start looking like Tifgreen or Common Bermuda!

 Mutations

 I think by now some explanation on mutations is in order. After some research on the Net, I found that there are two kinds of mutation: One is called Spontaneous Mutation, which means the mutation occurs naturally. It’s kinda rare but it happens now and then even among humans.

The natural rate of mutation is too slow and unreliable to produce the mutations in plants that breeders would like to see. In the late 1920s, researchers discovered that they could greatly increase the number of these variations or mutations by exposing plants to X-rays. "Mutation breeding" accelerated after World War II, when the techniques of the nuclear age became widely available. Plants were exposed to gamma rays, protons, neutrons, alpha particles, and beta particles to see if these would induce useful mutations. Chemicals, too, such as sodium azide and ethyl methanesulphonate, were used to cause mutations.

This kind of mutation is called Induced Mutation; the kind that happened to the spider that bit our Mr. Parker and the kind that happened to our don’t-make-me-angry-you-wouldn’t-like-me-when-I’m-angry Dr. Bruce Banner aka Incredible Hulk.

Look! Down on the grass! It’s a weed! It’s a dwarf! No! It’s an off-type…

These mutations or “off-typing” are progressive, it’s ongoing. Have you ever noticed on some greens you can see blotches of different coloured or textured grasses? Especially on older greens. It may mean that the grass is mutating naturally. Not all of these grasses mutate at the same time. Just patches at a time. So after a few years, you get greens with patches or blotches of different coloured grass. 

This would especially be true with golf courses where the grass on green no 2 was taken from green no 17 which was taken from green no 14 which was taken from green no 7 which - a long, long time ago - was taken from green no 2, which was taken from the nursery behind the workshop where originally, the grass was taken from the golf course in the South where the former boss (now deceased) played during his holiday. Three Superintendents later, the golf course is still struggling to maintain consistency on the greens. There is a lesson here: buy grass from a single source that can trace their lineage back to a reputable source without having undergone too many replantings.

If we are hoping that one day, eventually all the grass on the greens will mutate into one perfect variety of grass, well, think about the X-men. Do they all have the same powers? Are they all the same mutants? Are they all the same sizes? Don't you wish all of them look like Halle Berry in tights?

Sometimes these “off-types” (sounds better than "mutants" eh?) are better than the original plant, so some enterprising superintendent have adopted the grass and took to breeding them in nurseries and replanting them on greens. That’s why you hear of a few local golf courses that plant these “off-types” and have superior greens. You’ve heard how fast the greens are and some are wondering why don’t all Malaysian golf courses do the same? Well for one thing you have to remember, when Spiderman marries Mary-Jane, there is no guarantee there will be a Spiderboy or Spidergirl. Who knows what the next generation will be? It could be something really weird or it could be normal humans or... normal spiders.

 You see, there is a risk: in the next couple of years these greens could start mutating and you can see patches of different coloured grass on the greens. After all, you could be talking genetically unstable grass here. I won’t condemn them, it could work too.  Don’t forget that is how Tifdwarf started. The golf course could grow for years with no problems with greens envied by other golf courses.

Last question. In the turf industry are there any grasses that was produced by Induced Mutation? Are there any “nuclear” grass? Plenty. But I’ll give you just one.  Bombarding a variety of Bermudagrass with gamma rays produced  “Tifeagle”.  It’s one of the most popular and succesful varieties yet. Out in the market since 1998, it can be mowed at half the height of Tifdwarf with half the fertilizer requirement. And no, it doesn’t glow in the dark…

References:

http://grove.ufl.edu/~turf/bermvars/ Bermudagrass varieties by Philip Busey and Albert E. Dudeck
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/mcclean/plsc431/mutation/mutation2.htm Genes and Mutations by Phillip McClean
http://grove.ufl.edu/~turf/dna/ Distinguishing off-types in Tifway and Tifdwarf bermudagrass  by Phil Busey¹, Al Dudeck², Charlie Guy², and Nigel Harrison¹ with consultation by David Huff

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