Genetic Restoration Services
Zennetix utilizes micropropagation, a widely used and time-tested plant tissue culture technique, to preserve and propagate clean, true-to-type plant stock.
When initiating new cultivars, Zennetix employs the following steps to ensure each cultivar offered is genetically distinct, free of known pests and pathogens, and returned to a state of juvenile vigor.
1
Receive plant tissue:
Plant tissue is received in the form of unrooted cuttings, surface sterilized, and rooted.
2
Genotyping
Tissue samples are submitted for DNA fingerprinting.
3
Establishment of foundation plants
After being rooted and quarantined, foundation plants are grown for 6 weeks.
4
Virus/viroid screening
After 6 weeks of growth, foundation plants are screened for agronomically relevant viruses/viroids using isothermic and/or qPCR.
5
Initiation
Once genotype and virus/viroid information is obtained, one foundation plant per cultivar is selected for initiation into tissue culture using nodal segments that are surface sterilized and placed into individual test tubes with growth medium. These nodal segments are referred to as explants.
6
indexing
A stem segment from each explant is placed on a growth medium specifically formulated for the growth of bacterial and fungal contaminants and pathogens. All contaminated explants are discarded, resulting in a clean, pest and pathogen-free tissue culture population.
7
media optimization
Once a clean, pest and pathogen free tissue culture population has been established, explants are aggregated into larger vessels for media trials. Each cultivar is screened against a panel of proprietary media formulations to ensure a consistent state of juvenility and vigorous growth.
8
reconfirmation
Once a medium has been selected, each cultivar is again genotyped and screened for agronomically relevant viruses/viroids to reconfirm that each tissue culture population is true to type and free of viruses/viroids before being released for production.
