Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Selective Cuttings

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Joe and Ellen Hecksel <jhecksel@voyager.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Selective Cuttings
  • Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 16:42:47 -0400


mIEKAL wrote

My understanding is YES you can make a selective cuttings...


I saw an academic paper out of University of Minnesota where researchers took Burbank Russet potato meristems. They used enzymes to dissolve the lump to the individual cell level. They then grew plantlets out of each cell.

They saw wide variation in each plant with regard to potato shape, blight resistance, etc. They postulated that complex plants, especially older ones, are really mosaics of cells. They only appear uniform when viewed from a macroscopic distance...just like most high elevation shots of crowds look similar, regardless of the team's colors.

The researches also suggested that this might be a good way to select disease resistance without going through sexual propagation. Their thinking being that you were less likely to lose quality in the fruit/tuber.

Figs were one of the first fruits domesticated. I suppose some of the clones might be several thousand years old. That is a long time for UV and background radiation to meddle with the DNA and create the "mosaic" described the the U. Minn researchers.







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page