Scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and two other global institutes have demonstrated, in a new finding which holds the potential for replication of food crops, that plants can be cloned through seeds by manipulating the genes.
The phenomenon of clonal seed formation, or Apomixis, occurs naturally in a few plants, but not in food crops. Clonal formation makes a plant genetically identical to the parent plant — which is not normally possible in the sexual process of seed formation.
The findings have been published in a research article in Friday's issue of the journal Science . The research, a collaborative effort between the groups of Imran Siddiqi (CCMB), Raphael Mercier of France and Simon Chan of the United States, has shown that it is possible to engineer clonal seed formation in sexual plants.
The paper demonstrates the proof of principle in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana — of the mustard family — in that by altering 2 to 4 genes, it was possible to obtain clonal seeds up to 34 per cent.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, CCMB Director Ch. Mohan Rao and Dr. Siddiqi explained how the research could help overcome the problem of hybrid vigour loss — a phenomenon associated with high-yielding hybrids in crops — with successive generations, as the seeds do not perform as well as the parent. Hybrid vigour could be maintained if it were possible for plants to be cloned through seeds.
Revolutionary potential
They said that Apoximis technologies had the potential to revolutionise agriculture. It could accelerate plant breeding, reduce the cost of hybrid seed production and enable the farmer to multiply his own seeds.
