Mutations occur – it’s a fact of life just like taxes and death. Most of the time, mutations impacting a single “normal” (somatic) cell in an organism, like a plant, have very little impact as that one cell is only a tiny proportion of the whole organism. What happens though if you now use this cell – or a small piece of tissue, containing this cell in a much smaller total cell population to regenerate a full mature plant? Whether this occurs in context of traditional cuttings or plant tissue culture (and it occurs in both), during the growth process the mutated cell can divide to lead to a much larger number of mutated progeny cells in the mature plant. Particularly if this process is now repeated (a cutting from a cutting, or multiple sequential splits in tissue culture) you can end up with some final plants having a large proportion of mutated cells and now, an obviously different genotype (and possibly phenotype) from the desired starting stock. Among breeders and growers this is sometimes referred to as “genetic drift” – strictly, not a correct use of the term, but it is a change in the genetic makeup, and it’s something to be avoided if uniformity of a variety is desired.
While somaclonal variation can’t be stopped, Segra utilizes two techniques in synergy to ensure our clients get the clones they expect. The first of these is using in-house molecular biology expertise to monitor and eliminate variant clones in our stocks – both in large scale production and in maintenance. The second arm of our QA strategy is in the routine reinitiation of all our varieties, from 100% genetically verified starting stock, at regular intervals. Utilizing these together, Segra is uniquely positioned to support true to type cultivar in the cannabis space to detect, remove & deliver true-to-type plants every time.
Know what your cultivation program is getting – Buy Segra Clones.
