culturing plants in TC induces mutations?

[agustinfranco]

Hi all:

I would like to open this discussion to present evidence for and against the hypothesis/theory that artificial plant propagation using standard Tissue culture procedures induces mutations.
We all know that in the horticultural industry, plant tissue culture is widely used. However, some plant breeders criticise this practice, because of the reasons
mentioned above. It'd be helpful if plant growers contribute to this discussion.

My first question is: is there scientific evidence to corroborate this hypothesis?

Cheers,

Gus

[thelarge]

Here we go again

[agustinfranco]

Hi the large:

I don't think this is the same thing discussed before. some mutations do not change plant characteristics at all and they are called silent mutations. My question is whether TC induces mutations in plants propagated this way. Whether these change plant shape or characteristics is another topic for discussion

Gus

[morbus]

simple answer: Yes, TC brings about spontaneous and largely unpredictable mutations
They can be in any area (locus) of the genome and therefore could affect any characteristic of the cell and they could be silent as well

that said, TC is unlikely to "induce" mutations (unless that is your goal) because mutation is an inherent property of biology and cell division. the reason it may be enhanced in TC is that the rate of cell division is drastically increased.

remember, the view that leaf shape, root growth, pitcher colour or any other characteristic is encoded in a single gene is largely untrue. they are most often the result of a bunch of genes. I can also almost give you a 100% guarantee that the combination important for these characteristics is largely unknown for nepenthes! anyway, my point is that you need a bunch of mutations to occur in the right places of the right genes to bring about a change that can be sustained in the cell. although - i should stop as i will digress
again - the simple answer is YES

If you really want to know - read scientific papers and understand the biology. also, make sure you know exactly what you mean by the term "mutation" - i dont mean to be condescending - honestly!!

I am not a plant biologist and have never done plant TC
so, i there are any inaccuracies in the above, im sorry and please let me know so i can learn as well

I hope i shed some light
Peace

[peterhewitt]

Hey Tariq (Morbus), I would just like to mention on your behalf, that you have more than enough experience in Human cell Tissue culture and research, to form an educated opinion on the subject. Just so that no one thinks that you are guessing at an answer, and there are no misunderstandings.

[morbus]

that's kind
thanks Peter
im always scared to post such things (as in my previous post) in case im wrong, Lol
but no one was posting so I thought I would try

[peterhewitt]

You have more experience than most, being a Researcher. So your comments must have some weight.

[agustinfranco]

Hi all:


thanks for your answers. Considering Morbus's answers, then it's very clear that unless you are targeting mutants in TC, this unlikely occurs and your other comments also make sense. This is exactly what i suspected.
BTW, Morbus: i used to grow Hela S3 in Joklik modified Eagle media, U937's, Jurkat T cells,
and others in RPMI 1640 for years. However, i needed somebody else's opinion.

Thanks again

Gus

[morbus]

cool
hello fellow scientist
Then I just say again that i sincerely meant to condescension
I have just often found that some people have a a different view of what mutation means - kinda like x-men stuff

Are you doing plant TC now?
maybe you could induce mutations and see what weird and wonderful Neps you can make

[mikuláš]

Gus,

You may find EP's post in the following thread of interest:

pitcherplants.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=3219&page=4

[Dave Evans]

Sept 18, 2011 5:14:41 GMT -10 morbus said:

sremember, the view that leaf shape, root growth, pitcher colour or any other characteristic is encoded in a single gene is largely untrue. they are most often the result of a bunch of genes. I can also almost give you a 100% guarantee that the combination important for these characteristics is largely unknown for nepenthes! anyway, my point is that you need a bunch of mutations to occur in the right places of the right genes to bring about a change that can be sustained in the cell. although - i should stop as i will digress
again - the simple answer is YES

Yes, this is accurate. However, it is absolutely not true that a single mutation cannot be beneficial. It is exceedingly unlikely that any mutation will be beneficial and most are fatal. Also, multiple advantageous mutations don't happen at once and may require translocation (another mutation) to become fully useful. Any inheritable mutations that aren't fatal need time to build up in a populations in order for them to be available for natural selection.

TC "speeds up" growth. Mutations happen as part of growth, so TC does help induce mutations. The trick would be to determine if they occur at a higher rate due to the TC protocol. I also think it would depend on the species/genus and which TC protocol is being employed...