Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Share

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
rate this answer
Not Yet Rated

Thursday - February 23, 2012

From: GrantsPass, OR
Region: Northwest
Topic: General Botany, Propagation
Title: Plant cloning or genetic engineering
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Can you take one genome (strain) and take a clean cut and put onto another plant another strain?

ANSWER:

What you are suggesting, I think, is essentially cloning (à la Dolly, the sheep) or producing an identical copy of a plant. There are much simpler ways to produce clones in plants.   In fact, many plants produce clones on their own.  For example,  Populus tremuloides (Quaking aspen) reproduce by seeds and by root sprouts.  The ones that reproduce by root sprouts are clones.  This article from the US Forest Service says:

"Aspen is noted for its ability to regenerate vegetatively by shoots and suckers arising along its long lateral roots. Root sprouting results in many genetically identical trees, in aggregate called a "clone". All the trees in a clone have identical characteristics and share a root structure."

Other examples of plants that produce identical copies of themselves are strawberries and many grasses that send out stolons (modified aboveground stems) or rhizomes (modified underground stems) that take root to form new plants.

For most plants, cloning is possible by taking cuttings and rooting them in a proper medium.  Here are detailed instructions for cloning plants from cuttings.   A more complicated and time-consuming way to produce plant clones uses very small pieces of plant and tissue culture.  In fact, recently a Russian scientific team, using tissue culture, was able to reproduce a plant, Sylene stenophylla, from tissue that had been frozen for 30,000 years in a squirrel's burrow in the Siberian permafrost.

Interspecific grafting (and even intergeneric grafting, although not generally successful) is also possible.  This involves connecting shoots of one species to the root stock of another species creating a compound genetic system with each species contributing its strengths (e.g., the root stock from the species with a strong root system and the shoot from a species with a desirable shoot system).

Finally, with genetic engineering techniques it is possible to insert genes from another species into a plant species and have them be functional—even genes from a completely different kingdom (e.g., from Kingdom Monera [bacteria, blue-green algae and spirochetes] into Kingdom Plantae).  Here are some of the goals in genetic engineering of plants:

  • improving nutrition of food plants (e.g., golden rice that contains beta-carotene a precursor for producing vitamin A)
  • making plants resistant to fungi, insects, herbicides and herbivores (e.g., inserting the genome of Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium, into plants [potatoes, corn, etc.] to protect them from Colorado potato beetles and corn borers)
  • modifying plant genomes to produce a specific product (e.g., coffee beans without caffeine)
  • changing the ripening and storage qualities of the fruits of plants (e.g., slow ripening tomatoes)

 

 

 

More Propagation Questions

Eupatorium serotinum (late boneset) for garden setting, care and propagation
October 27, 2007 - What are the prospects for Eupatorium serotinum in a garden setting? What requirements does the plant have? How large does it grow, etc.
view the full question and answer

Information on propagating alder (Alnus crispa) from seed or cuttings in Alberta, Canada
January 20, 2006 - What do you know about propagating alder (Alnus crispa) from seed or cuttings? I'm involved in a small stream side revegetation project in central Alberta, Canada.
view the full question and answer

Propagating agarita from berries in Leakey TX
August 09, 2010 - I would like to pick the berries off my agarita and plant them in other areas. When can I plant the seeds and do I need to prepare or dry them first? What is best way to plant in ground? thanks
view the full question and answer

Propagating Eustoma exaltatum from seed in Lucas TX
September 27, 2010 - Hello I know that Texas bluebells Eustoma exaltatum ssp. russellianum are supposed to be difficult to start from seed. Does Mr. Smarty Plants have any helpful hints? Thanks!
view the full question and answer

Grapes Grown from Seed
July 21, 2006 - Can mustang grapes be grown from seed? If so, how is the best way and when is the best time to do it?
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.