Question

Aquatic plants, Cabomba caroliniana, show substantial developmental plasticity. The submerged leaves of the plant are feathery (which are not damaged due to flowing underwater currents) while leaves on the surface are padded (and help in floatation). The correct statement related to the above phenotypes is
A. The genome content of the submerged leaves is different from that of leaves on the surface
B. The observed phenotypic variation in leaves is not influenced by the diverse growth condition
C. These phenotypic variations are due to somatic mutations
D. The submerged and floating leaves may have variations in the expression patterns of structures and/or regulatory genes

Answer 1

Aquatic plants are those plants that grow in aquatic, wet, or moist areas, because of these reasons, these plants have special adaptations compared to terrestrial plants where the leaves and roots have some modifications for their survival in the water.

Complete answer:
Cabomba caroliniana is an aquatic perennial plant and it is an herb usually found in north and south America.
This Cabomba caroliniana is Macrophyte which has strong roots that are rooted in the mud, and the leaves submerged and some leaves are floating on the water, and these plants are reproduced through seeds and also through vegetative propagation.
Vegetative propagation mostly occurs as in the summer, stems are little dried and break down from the plant, and they develop into a new plant, and they also distribute into new habitats to propagate its species.
These plants are considered as a weed in many areas, and it is found in freshwater, and having rhizomes and the erected shoots which are present are nothing but extended rhizomes, and these plants have shot with glass green color to olive green color and these are sometimes red also.
These plants have two types of leaves and they are submerged leaves and also floating types of leaves.
Submerged leaves are arranged as pairs, while the floating leaves are arranged as alternatives, and the leaves are generally 13mm in length which means that they are less than half-inch, and these leaf blades are attached to shoots at the area of constriction.
Though they both are leaves where one is submerged and these leaves are feathery which is arranged in such a way and it doesn’t break to any underwater currents as it has that plasticity to maintain it strong and another one is floating leaves which helps in floating.
Though both are leaves and they may have the same genotypes but their functions are different due they’re different in the expression of their regulatory genes which gives different phenotypes.
These plants also have flowers, which are small and white that arise from the stalks, and it is raised from the tip of the shoot.
So, the correct answer is “Option D”.

Note: It is a freshwater plant, and it is present as submerged plants, where only some leaves of the plant are submerged and some leaves are floating, though both of them are leaves, they present in different forms as their phenotypic expression of those genes are different.