Genomes of Grafted plants' can communicate with each other
Now, researchers at the Salk Institute and Cambridge University have used this ancient practice, combined with trendy genetic analysis, to indicate that grafted plants will share epigenetic traits. "Grafting is something done usually within the commercial world, and yet, we actually do not fully perceive the implications for the 2 plants," says Joseph Ecker, one in all the director of Salk's Genomic Analysis Laboratory and senior authors of the paper. "Our study showed genetic info is truly flowing from one plant to the other. That genetic info shared between plants is not DNA--the 2 grafted plants keep their original genomes--but epigenetic info is being communicated inside the plant. "In the longer term, this analysis would possibly permit growers to use the epigenetic info to enhance crops and yields," says Mathew Lewsey, one amongst the primary authors of the paper and a Salk research associate. To track the flow of epigenetic info, the Salk ...