Polyploidy

[foxd]

I recently bought online a small quantity of a chamical used to induce polyploidy in plants and am in the process of figuring out the details of the safest way to experiment with it. Since a number of bamboo species are now known to actually be sterile hybrids of other species and such hybrids are sterile because of mismatched chromosomes. My plan is to try and induce polyploidy so the chromosomes will now be in matching pairs making the once sterile bamboo capable of producing viable seed. If nothing else this will be a learning experience.

Anyway, if anyone else wantrs to experiment with this I have enough of the chemical to make up a little over eleven 55 gallon barrels of the solution. Apparently a little goes a long way.

[Jeff: Igor's Apprentice]

Is it cochicine?

curiosity....

[foxd]

Is it cochicine?

curiosity....

No, I couldn't find cochicine online, but I did find that Oryzalin could also be used. Judging from the instructions I've read for safely doing this it is pretty nasty stuff to be exposed to. I still have some stuff to get before I open the bottle to make the stock solution.

[Jeff: Igor's Apprentice]

Well, if that stuff is half as nasty as cochicine, I hope you will use every precaution when working with it. I guess it would be, as it is a mutagen also.

How do you intend to work with bamboo, if I can ask?
I can understand soaking seeds in it, but then there is the whole availability issue of seeds.
Did you have something else in mind?

[foxd]

Well, if that stuff is half as nasty as cochicine, I hope you will use every precaution when working with it. I guess it would be, as it is a mutagen also.

I am going to use goggles, gloves for handling herbicide, face mask, covered work area, etc. I guess it does induce a form of mutation.

How do you intend to work with bamboo, if I can ask?
I can understand soaking seeds in it, but then there is the whole availability issue of seeds.
Did you have something else in mind?

I plan to treat the rhizomes of a division and try to induce polyploidy in the growing tips.

[foxd]

I just finished comparing the colchicine MSDS to the Surflan MSDS. Surflan is definitely much safer to handle for the experiment. i.e. If something goes horribly wrong I probably won't die from the experience.

Side note from another experiment: Rubbing a bamboo cane down with acetone does seem to help polyurethane varnish to stick better. The treated cane came through several months of weather exposure in much better shape than the untreated cane.

[Jeff: Igor's Apprentice]

I plan to treat the rhizomes of a division and try to induce polyploidy in the growing tips.

Sounds like an interesting approach.
How will you measure- or judge- your success? Must you wait until your plants have exceeded normal growth parameters, or do you foresee other indicators of success?

[foxd]

How will you measure- or judge- your success? Must you wait until your plants have exceeded normal growth parameters, or do you foresee other indicators of success?

Good questions! I wish I had good answers for them.

I'm hoping there will be some indication whether I have been successful or not. I guess I will just have to see what happens.

[foxd]

Yesterday I made the stock solution (dilute by 100). I then dug a division off of the Pseudosasa japonica and cleaned the dirt off the roots. I then made the working solution (dilute stock solution by 100) and soaked the division roots/rhizomes for 8+ hours. At this point I had to deviate from the written procedure and soak the roots/rhizome in clean water rather than under a slowly running tap. I will do several soaks over the day.

From what I have seen of the roots and rhizomes so far, I may or may not of induced polyploidy, but it has definitely been producing shoots in the last 18 hours.

Hmmm...I still have this bucket full of working solution...

[ghmerrill]

so you are saying you have seen the plant start to produce shoots in only an 18 hour time frame? thats pretty incredible. if thats the case, I wonder why all the bamboo nurseries are not using that to mass produce bamboos faster.

[foxd]

so you are saying you have seen the plant start to produce shoots in only an 18 hour time frame? thats pretty incredible. if thats the case, I wonder why all the bamboo nurseries are not using that to mass produce bamboos faster.

I can think of a few reasons...

One of which is they wouldn't know what they would be selling the customer. Yes, I did get shoots very quickly, but I don't know what the mutagenic chemical has done to the bamboo yet, if anything. Remember, this is an experiment to induce polyploidy.

Also, it probably looked to the plant like the ground temperature jumped from near freezing to close to 60°F with lots of rain.

[Alan_L]

So you should soak some other plants in regular water of the same temperature to see if they shoot the same way. If I had to bet, I'd say it was the warmth and wet that did it.

[ghmerrill]

there is no way you are going to have shoots develop in a matter of 18 hours just due to temp difference, I doubt you would even see any difference in the size of the buds in 18 hours... it sounds more like this is acting as a growth hormone, speeding up the process.

[Jeff: Igor's Apprentice]

So you should soak some other plants in regular water of the same temperature to see if they shoot the same way. If I had to bet, I'd say it was the warmth and wet that did it.

That sounds like good scientific process.

there is no way you are going to have shoots develop in a matter of 18 hours just due to temp difference, I doubt you would even see any difference in the size of the buds in 18 hours... it sounds more like this is acting as a growth hormone, speeding up the process.

Highly interesting! But it could stand to be proven by Alan's suggestion.


I was reading something recently about the size of the stomata changing in polyploid plants. Don't remember what kind of plants. But I wonder if that's something you could examine with a scope on bamboo?

[ghmerrill]

would you have to stain it to see anything?