Plant Breeding Breakthrough: Offspring with genes from only one parent

[TroubleGuy]

Here's the article in the Nature journal detailing the technique

Link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08800.html

You have to pay to read it, or already have an account. If anyone has one it'd be very cool if you could copy and paste the article for all to see

 

[UpInTheCut]

Here is a article from U. of Southern California about the Nature Paper:

A method pioneered to find the genetic basis of human diseases also holds promise for locating the genes behind important traits in plants, according to a study published online March 24 by the journal Nature.

A large team led by USC biologists carried out what one author called “the first extensive use” of genome-wide association (GWA) in a plant species. The study located dozens of genes that may determine key traits such as flowering time and disease resistance.

The study broke new ground for two reasons: the authors studied natural variation of 107 different traits - a far higher number than in previous studies - in nearly 200 strains of a common weed collected from all over the world; and advances in genetic analysis enabled the authors to check the genome for mutations at many more points.

“The useful applications to agriculture, biofuel production and potentially changing and challenging plant growth conditions are vast,” said Susanna Atwell, a co-first author and postdoctoral researcher at USC College.

“This data set and methodology holds the potential to determine genes involved in natural variation in metabolite levels, biomass, flowering time, salt or heavy metal tolerance and disease resistance, to name but a few.”

In this study, the authors compared the genomes of up to 192 families of Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant widely studied by geneticists. The comparison took place at 250,000 pre-selected locations in the genome.

The comparison allowed the authors to identify parts of the genome that may contain genes responsible for observed variations in a given trait such as flowering time.

Since the comparison does not guarantee that a gene causes a particular trait, any genes identified through genome-wide association need to be tested further. Team members now are studying about 60 previously unknown genes to confirm their predicted function.

“GWA mapping is a faster method for locating causal genes as the genes are located to a smaller region than previous mapping techniques I have used,” Atwell said. “Our data set does a good job of locating previously known ones, so we have confidence that the novel genes that are also identified will also be real.”

Atwell expects the study to become a major resource for the community of geneticists working on A. thaliana, which numbers about 5,000 laboratories worldwide.

The Nature study culminates years of work by scientists led by senior author Magnus Nordborg, on leave from the Department of Biological Sciences at USC College and now based at the Gregor Mendel Institute in Vienna, Austria.

“It’s been Magnus’ pet project for a very long time,” Atwell said.

Atwell’s co-first authors were her fellow postdoc Glenda Williams and USC graduate students Yu Huang and Bjarni Vilhjalmsson.

More than 30 other scientists contributed to the study, representing 10 institutions: the Keck School of Medicine of USC; the University of Chicago; Purdue University; the University of Sciences and Technologies in Lille, France; the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; The Salk Institute for Biological Studies; the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England; the Max Planck Institute in Cologne, Germany; Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich; and the Max Planck Institute in Tubingen, Germany.

The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health supported the research, with additional support from several institutions, agencies and foundations.

 

[REDEYE_420]

Great post!

"Expect many "new" strains from GHS!" HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Peace

 

[Snype]

Nice article Lazy!

 

[highonmt]

This has serious implications in the world plant breeders as well as great potential in agriculture. Imagine cheat grass with high protien wheat seeds etc. The first thing I imagined was canna hops as well...Love to cover my house with those vines...HM

 

[ChronJohn]

I've put forth a theory that some female cannabis produces what I've called primordial seeds, without male pollen. On numerous occasions, I've found a few seeds on an otherwise unpollenated plant. My theory is that some females have the ability to self-pollenate as a survival trait, once peak flowering has come and gone (see "Primordial Seeds?" on my profile).

When I posted this, several people said it couldn't happen without the male sperm, and the seed formation was attributed to stray pollen. After reading this, I think maybe there's something else going on.

Thanks 2Lazy!

I think it's called a "hermaphrodite" lol yes it is a survival technique, especially if a plant goes too long without harvesting. However if you were finding males in the seeds, not hermi's but real males than I am at a loss for what the issue is.


This breakthrough will be quite awesome, we'll be able to preserve some really nice clone only strains in seed form without worrying about hermies in the following generations. I have no idea what half the terms in this article mean tho (I haven't taken a science class since 9th grade) so I'm sure the implications are much farther reaching than what my callow understanding can comprehend, but I can see by the comments that fellow ICers have an idea of what's to follow.

Good post 2Lazy

 

[rastaone]

..have to think that though first. But my next question would be how to add me to the pre-order list for that stuff

 

[hazeydayz]

huh.... i knew about months ago but really this is good news

 

[gingerale]

Could someone who has the gist of how the process works by reading the article post the info here for all to see? Especially broke asses like me that cant afford the $39 to view it? lol

 

[Defunk]

when i first started breeding plants i did not have lights and all that i breed my plants through the season i allways took my best plants bigs most strong smelling most potent and the earlyiest now i have somthing special

 

[Defunk]

i would select my best looking seedlins ever year and breed i call it the runk 1987 ot 2010 cloning made my work lot easier

 

[bigbadwasg]

this may be a dumb question but if all the genes are only from one parent why wouldn't one just clone?

 

[Kal-El]

Think farmers fields...How many clones for say oh forty acres??

 

[TripleAOnly]

this is crazy...

 

[stihgnobevoli]

this is a double edged sword, no one is considering the implications of a monsanto using this technology to wipe out genetic diversity in the wild. imagine a world where all the weed is GMO and only contains one set of genes and no variation.

 

[asstastic]

i dont think everyone understands
xx=female
xy=male
xx+xy=xx and xy
xx+xx(otherwise known as hermi)=fem seeds
and the new way is to take a x1x2 female and seperate the x's then enduce the x1 to double making an x1x1 fem
this does not pertain to cannabis seing as cannabis is the only plant to have females and males in different plants fem seeds are the same as if this was done to a tomato so its old news for cannabis but preaty cool for other plants
if this is done to cannabis it would make the same plant as the hermi seeds would

 

[Care Giver]

Nature isn't that foolish.

I think haploid plants would lack "vigor" in many of their traits.

Heterosis is a term used in genetics and selective breeding. The term heterosis, also known as hybrid vigor or outbreeding enhancement, describes the increased strength of different characteristics in hybrids; the possibility to obtain a genetically superior individual by combining the virtues of its parents.

Heterosis is the opposite of inbreeding depression, which occurs with increasing homozygosity.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Is it just me, or does ....

"Once the haploid-inducing lines are created, the technique is easy to use"

...mean that all the elite clone only strains will not after all, be replicated, perfectly in seed form ?

This technique only works on specially created haploid-inducing lines, Cheese, Bubba and friends missed the boat and will not be coming to the party.

 

[asstastic]

Is it just me, or does ....

...mean that all the elite clone only strains will not after all, be replicated, perfectly in seed form ?

This technique only works on specially created haploid-inducing lines, Cheese, Bubba and friends missed the boat and will not be coming to the party.

wtf did you try to say

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

wtf did you try to say

"Once the haploid-inducing lines are created, the technique is easy to use"

I was asking if I was correct in understanding that this technique will not work on existing lines [elite clones, e.g. Cheese, Bubba Kush] because they were not created/bred as Haploid inducing....