system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can plants "inbreed"? Can they experience genetic issues like generations of inbred animals can?
gpt
Many plants can self-pollinate, that’s how we get lab-strains for research as well as many of our monoculture crops. There’s still natural diversity due to heterozygosity (more than one of each chromosome, combining in different ways each generation) and of course mutation and natural selection.

However, there are some plants that have mechanims to prevent inbreeding, called “self-incompatibility”. The actual mechanisms can be vastly different for different plant species. For example, mustard species have molecular mechanisms to recognize cases of self-pollination and can activate pathways to prevent this from happening. It’s an advantageous trait that has evolved in many plants.