[foomar]

Seems like those Russian chaps have managed to restore a functional plant from ancient tissue via microculture techniques.

My seemingly dead 30 year old canna seeds might respond well , if the details are released.

The Russian researchers excavated ancient squirrel burrows exposed on the bank of the lower Kolyma River, an area thronged with mammoth and woolly rhinoceroses during the last ice age. Soon after being dug, the burrows were sealed with windblown earth, buried under 125 feet of sediment and permanently frozen at minus 7 degrees Celsius.

Some of the storage chambers in the burrows contain more than 600,000 seeds and fruits. Many are from a species that most closely resembles a plant found today, the narrow-leafed campion (Silene stenophylla).

Working with a burrow from the site called Duvanny Yar, the Russian researchers tried to germinate the campion seeds, but failed. They then took cells from the placenta, the organ in the fruit that produces the seeds. They thawed out the cells and grew them in culture dishes into whole plants.

Many plants can be propagated from a single adult cell, and this cloning procedure worked with three of the placentas, the Russian researchers report. They grew 36 ancient plants, which appeared identical to the present day narrow-leafed campion until they flowered, when they produced narrower and more splayed-out petals. Seeds from the ancient plants germinated with 100 percent success, compared with 90 percent for seeds from living campions.

I saw this in the news today. Gives me new hope for my thousands of Columbian Golds from 1974. Best weed in the world hands down. Its super crack weed.

[Nader]

Holy crap, the implications....

[SOTF420]

Unbelievable, I would cry if I even got to touch a plant that was from a 30,000 year old fruit/seed. What a humbling experience it must be to even get to even take care of something of such magnitude that just blows my mind. I feel like I'm going back in time just growing decade old seeds but seriously plants from cells of fruit/seeds that are tens of thousands of years old?

Nature is amazing, and plants are even more amazing

very cool! Nice Post.

[foomar]

Not sure if its relevant to canna , the term placenta is not familiar in respect of plant tissue to me , hope its not unique to campion species.

If its true would love to grow it , a firm like Thomsons will pick it up for sure.

Garden was full of the wild native version last year , the seeds are tiny.

Biology: White campion flowers from May to September. Male and female flowers occur on different plants. Female plants are usually more numerous in natural populations. Pollination is by night flying moths. Seeds start to become viable 2-3 weeks after flowering. The seeds ripen and the capsule opens 4-5 weeks later. Each seed capsule contains between 48 and 359 seeds. There are 5,000 to 15,000 seeds per plant.

Germination takes place whenever conditions are favourable. There may be some initial dormancy that is overcome by chilling.
Germination is promoted by alternating temperatures and light. Fresh and dry-stored seed of white campion from separate populations in Europe differed in the proportion of seeds that germinated readily or were dormant. There were also differences in the rate of germination at certain key temperatures. Dry-stored seed was less dormant than fresh seed and germinated more readily over a range of temperatures.


Persistence and Spread: Seed recovered from archaeological digs and house demolitions is said to have germinated after 70 years burial. Seed buried in mineral soil retained up to 52% viability after 4 years depending on burial depth but had only 1-2% viability after 20 years. Seed buried in a peat soil at 26 cm retained little viability after just 1 year. Seed stored under granary conditions had 27% viability after 1 year but was no longer viable after 20 years.

If it works for seed from food plants , a little of the diversity that has been lost , could be recovered.
Far cheaper than any DNA based recovery so more wll get done.

The precursors to modern crops would be of immense value for breeding , the ultimate backcross.

[s13sr20det]

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/sc...ml?_r=3&src=tp

[Crusader Rabbit]

Fascinating story. Thank you very much for posting this.

[foomar]

The part within the ovary of a flowering plant to which the ovules are attached.

Seems the placenta tissue is not part of the seed itself , no good for canna unless the rest of the flower is preserved , which is most unlikely.

[Cayenne]

as a reward for the human race's love of knowledge i provide to you a video on the topic of cell and tissue culture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBLW0XG4NEw

also

heres a helpful website with a bunch of free to download pdf files on cell biology https://bsbiotechonline.com/book.html

with great haste ye denizens of icmag, lurk more