Tissue Cultured Marijuana ? You Bet !

[trichcycler]

the technology is decades old, and the way that commercial big agri has done it for years, of course. I would think they would want the patenting procedures protected.

Monsanto says "If you can eat it, we must own it!"  without tissue culturing, none of their nefarious endeavors could be realized.

 

the minute I learned to culture and how it applies to the patent process, I made my decision to eat only non gmo foods.

cultured foods are not gmo necessarily, but patented ones are.

[Restorium2]

the technology is decades old, and the way that commercial big agri has done it for years, of course. I would think they would want the patenting procedures protected.

Monsanto says "If you can eat it, we must own it!"  without tissue culturing, none of their nefarious endeavors could be realized.

 

the minute I learned to culture and how it applies to the patent process, I made my decision to eat only non gmo foods.

cultured foods are not gmo necessarily, but patented ones are.

So you avoid all corn products? That's a tall order. 

[trichcycler]

it is a tall order, and I'm committed. I grow most of my own vegetables, trade chickens for the gmo free heritage corn to feed them. I avoid whole corn in my diet largely and we don't consume packaged foodstuff with modified cornstarch, cornmeal, corn gluten, etc.  One last visit to a cow farm fed at the troughs, with the huge port holes permanently in the cows stomachs for clean outs, convinced me.

 

the gmo corn is sold to farmers under the guise that the agrobacterium used to vector the foreign genetics into the dna of the life form will die immediately after consumed. Problem is the amount of antibiotics used in their culturing program has made these agribacs tolerant. Farmers are told to feed antibiotics to their livestock in staggering amounts and concoctions just to keep the occurrence of agribac down.

 

we consume the end results of dozens of antibiotics as well as live agrobacterium.

Morgellons has been a result in Russia of intense gmo culturing for bio weapons uses. The disease is prevalent in our country also and is largely ignored by the medical profession since maybe the 1940's.

 

The worrisome threat to home growers who carefully choose/grow their own foods is rogue pollen from these gmo contracted farms that surround us all. Americans feared and denied the technology for so long, and even currently some don't accept that it can even be done, while it seized the food and bio weapons industry.

 

The "cleaning" process of culturing has proven to be the winner in my garden, but mostly I culture for the fun of it. I do not purposely genetically modify any of my produce in culture, but I do practice hybridization daily with breeding programs. Fortunately a Gene Gun has been an elusive find for me, otherwise my plants would be typing this post maybe! 

[trichcycler]

my heritage strawberries and tomatoes have flowered this past week !  I have 9 strawberries in the flower room growing in the "Plants on Walls" system, and 4 in cups in the veg room. The tomatoes were planted by seed directly in the flowering room like I normally do.  The strawberries in the veg room are doing better than the ones in the 12/12 room. This is the first strawberry attempt I've done indoors, wanted to compare  24hour light to 12 hour light. The tomatoes don't seem to care, like some of my hybrid marijuana seeds, when being planted 12/12 direct. Considering hanging more plants on walls systems in the veg room, maybe a better berry crop, we'll see.

 

 

"PlantsOnWalls" system would be good for nine

smaller varieties of MJ auto's only. It barely holds a gallon of dirt.

perfect for many herbs, flowers, lettuce, berries, etc.

Edited January 11, 2015 by grassmatch

[Restorium2]

What would a medical marijuana caregiver or patient use tissue culture for? 

 

Can you outline a scenario (in the real world) where an average caregiver or patient could practically use this?

[trichcycler]

Excellent question Resto ! The short answer is no, I cannot imagine the average cg/patient utilizing tc in their medical marijuana garden.

 

On the other hand some of us are gardeners from birth, farmers even. Acquiring some biology/chem/medicine knowledge along the way naturally maybe, leads us into

alternative growing techniques, views, sentiments, etc. I know that you use a hybrid aero system, or at least have used yours, designed by you. I suspect you are a bit of a tinkerer also with a knowledge base of indoor gardening experiences. ( I do wish you'd share more often though, but understand the politics too; )

 

A cg/patient  who may naturally juncture into other marijuana areas like breeding or selling clones/seeds/artificial seeds/cuttings/etc would benefit largely utilizing the results of a culture program at home. Sterilization is the main hurdle, including sterilizing living plant material without killing it. Once jumped the track becomes a slippery slope of vast possibilities. The isolation of "sterile" genetics, free from the ever presence of normal growing plants' bacteria, pathogens, virus' and fungus is priceless and necessary for clear interpretation of breeder results in my opinion. Not to say awesome breeding cannot happen without tissue culture of course, its been going on for possibly thousands of years, but then again, tissue culture procedures are often described in ancient texts, and even depicted in Egyptian graphs, so who knows how long its been going on .

 

Storing a "mother plant" is tedious work with high costs when generations are kept. diseases are unavoidable, although not even detected at that stage, and possibly never, yet still present, right to the dna. Thousands of strains can be stored in culture under a simple cfl/flouro bulb in a small grow tent. Little to no maintenance is necessary, and actually they thrive longer when less fussing is done.

If necessary, like a cottage industry in a legal state, thousands of artificial seeds/cultures can be excised monthly from each strain kept. Each can be ordered to express a root, a leaf, both,  immediately, or left intact as is , and brought to the market in days of a order. No permanent change happens to the "mother" and the downline IS actually the purest possible sample available and will always be identical to mom. 

A real living permanent record of super clean genetics should be part of every growers' library. Even seeds from proven genes should be stored, its never too late. I believe our genetics will be soon saturated, and even gmo'd. Once this is done, like with every other "strain" of natural plant material patented, all traces of the origins will targeted for eradication and replacement, ok...., mad maxy I suppose.

 

There are some other obvious advantages, and some not so obvious, to tissue culturing marijuana. Breeding in vitro has huge benefits to growers with time, space, power savings off the hook, and speed of seed to fruit can be expedited too.

 

I feel I had no choice but to explore this craft to its end. Believe me I would have rather retained the thousands of dollars I've spent in a lifetime chasing the very simple information contained in that book I referenced. I was able to sell my cultures occasionally, which is exciting to me, and a satisfying glimpse into the future of tissue culturing at home.  Since web forums, including this one, I've met a few people around the globe who practice the craft and comparing notes is fun. 

 

Most would view my use of tissue culture in the med mj garden as novel. Truthfully I could probably do what I do in that garden without the use of cultures, but the challenging experiences have proven useful in the garden and industry, maybe because it "has to" for my parents and posterity(?) I'm not a hydro freak anymore and  had a lot to learn about soil and soil pests. I'm not overly attentive, I don't have a clean floor in my garden and sometimes I'm lazy.  My garden experiences less negative issues than some and I blame pure cultures for the win, but that's not why I chose to culture mj. I did that because it came as natural progression in 2008.

 

Nvwadohiyadv

[Restorium2]

I think that's what has been iratating for me about this topic, I can't see a use for it. But that's my personality. I'm a bit too practical. All my inventions spring forth from 'a need' first. For example; I never did like the invention of the Segway much either. lol It's iratating to me. There's not much use for it. It was always more 'hype' than anything else. 

[trichcycler]

although I didn't invent tissue culturing it began as a dad son thing in a basement lab. it was a cool bond then and not much info was available on the subject.

It continued as a bio enjoyment through life, and developed from hobby to job. I've made thousands of cultures for the flower nursery industry. Seems natural to me to

advance the craft right into cannabis the moment the opportunity was available to me. I have flower and even vegetable cultures also, tobacco, and most medicinal plants I could come up with. By virtue cannabis belonged in the library too. Utilizing it is a practice in function for me, and I've only become aware of a few people ever to bring a cannabis plant to fruition. there are more I know, and even more commercial ventures now that are culturing cannabis. I've been approached by some over the years. It really is the most efficient way to commercially clone genetics for the retail market. The technique is old technology now, yet just being discovered/used recently by the home hobbyist, and the marijuana culture. The future is bright and scary imo.

Edited January 11, 2015 by grassmatch

[backintheriver]

I also have much experiance with using willow tree leaves to make rooting hormones, I also have quite a bit of experiance with isolating cultures and pouring agar but never tissue cultures though I have always been interested. Most of my experiance is limited to mycology.

[backintheriver]

I think I will start a mission to master tissue cultures, I'm certain it would be a smell step for me I just haven't taken it. I was 16 the first time I cloned a mushroom from a wild specimen in Florida.

[backintheriver]

I think I will start a mission to master tissue cultures, I'm certain it would be a smell step for me I just haven't taken it. I was 16 the first time I cloned a mushroom from a wild specimen in Florida. You have inspired me to dig out and dust off the Petri dishes and pressure cooke

[backintheriver]

The only reason I even say small step is because I love reading or it would be a leap

[trichcycler]

Great !   the best reading on the subject I found is "Plants From Test Tubes.

 

have a blast!

[dirtyglovedank]

they have tissue culture kits at h2hydro in walled lake if they still have them for anybody wanting to explore this . i think its the future in the way of cloning and mothers in large scale cannabis. 

[trichcycler]

Culturing cannabis tissues is already happening on large scales in production- and of most every vegetable, herb, fruit, hundreds of varieties of ornamental flowers and a growing number of even livestock.  Every GMO plant is the product of tissue culturing, but every tissue cultured plant is not GMO.  Some fear the technology and are not aware of their own dinner plate associations with not only harmless TC, but the real devil, GMO foods.

all vaccines are GMO btw. Most potatoes, tomatoes,veggie seeds, apples, corn , crunchy bags, boxed foods, pasta, etc are gmo....and most foods not considered GMO contain GMO organisms like modified corn starch and more.

[trichcycler]

they have tissue culture kits at h2hydro in walled lake if they still have them for anybody wanting to explore this . i think its the future in the way of cloning and mothers in large scale cannabis.

these are awesome entry level kits. No commercial kit anywhere offers the correct solutions necessary to bring a cannabis plant to full fruition. the kits will store genetics, divide genetics, develop roots for storage, all an exciting responsible way to keep heirloom stock without plant counts. Around a thousand bucks and a few years of weekly fussing, millions of fungi farms....a solution to full expression could be found. good luck reproducing it. Once tried though, and successful, the craft is unstoppably addicting.

some of the ingredients are reduced to such miniscule amounts, like one drop of X to five gallons of sterile water, then one drop of that mixed by machine(magnetic stirrer for days and days)solution, to another litre of water, which only a drop of is used. Shelf life, exposure, sterility, mold propagation are great concerns. A dust mite is able to climb up a shelving unit, find a baby food jar with the lid on tight, and find its way inside. matter of fact, happens all the time to the unprepared. reports as mold. That stuff in vitro is the nectar of the gods, almost literally. a perfect blend of sugars, salts, proteins, enzymes, plant hormones, vitamins, minerals all encapsulated in a tasty algae derived dental gelatin. Stored at a constant temperature with just a hint of light in a semi sterile environment with no predators, who can blame the homely mite.

 

hint;

 

begin new hobby with the carrot culture kit mixes. don't move forward until a successful fully expressed carrot has been achieved, a feat easily accomplished in a typical cannabis grow room. Do not culture inside of a growing area, do not store cultures there either. I use a small walk in grow tent in a dedicated closet, upturned Rubbermaid container, lots of Lysol, pressure cooker, alcohol burner, tyvek suit, duct tape, rubber glove, face mask, hat. 1 25watt cfl bulb illuminates hundreds or more test tube cultures.

[trichcycler]

The process used to edit the genes of human embryos is so easy you could do it in a community bio-hacker space

 

May 1, 2015,

 

A group of researchers shocked the world in April when they revealed that they had used a revolutionary gene editing tool discovered in 2012 called CRISPR to edit the DNA of human embryos.

 

They used a tool that's so simple, a person with molecular biology skills and know-how could probably do it in a bio-hacker space for less than $2,000, according to experts.

 

And in fact, CRISPR — which can be used to modify genes in any cell — is so powerful and easy to use that some scientists think experimentation on human embryos was inevitable.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-genetically-modify-human-embryos-2015-4

 

"As anticipated, because this sort of study is technically possible, it was going to be done," Matthew Porteus, an associate professor of pediatrics in the division of stem cell transplantation told the Genetic Expert News Service.

 

The embryos used by the researchers were never going to develop into a person, but scientists are concerned about the future implications and effects of haphazard experimentation with human embryos. After all, it doesn't require a massive, highly-regulated research university to use this powerful tool.

 

Jennifer Doudna, one of the co-discoverers of CRISPR, told MIT Tech Review's Antonio Regalado just how easy it was to work with the tool: "Any scientist with molecular biology skills and knowledge of how to work with [embryos] is going to be able to do this."

 

Harvard geneticist George Church, whose lab is doing some of the premier research on CRISPR, says: "You could conceivably set up a CRISPR lab for $2000."

 

That's cheap enough if someone wanted to edit human embryos, even if were illegal to do so, they could go ahead and do it (provided a molecular biologist was involved). Embryo modification is far from the only use of CRISPR, and not what most labs have any interest in doing with the tool, but in theory, that's possible.

 

Using CRISPR to genetically engineer the DNA of an embryo is just like using it to work with any other bundle of cells, according to Oliver Medvedik, a professor and assistant director of a biomedical engineering center at Cooper Union and the co-founder of Genspace, a nonprofit community biolab where non-professional scientists can experiment with biotech.

 

It's done using lab supplies you would find in pretty much any molecular biology lab — things that DIYBIO labs build themselves, according to Church, who is an advisory board member at Genspace.

 

The hardest part of doing CRISPR on human embryos (instead of other cells) would be getting the embryos themselves — that would require donated embryos or the resources of a fertility clinic, including a minor surgery for egg extraction.

 

Actually implanting and developing an embryo from there (something still in the future, since accurate embryo modification is still not possible) would be even more expensive — a typical IVF procedure costs $12,000. But the genetic modification component itself? Easy and cheap.

 

 

How to modify genes — and embryos

 

CRISPR is essentially a package of molecules that can find specific sections of genetic code (patterns of the As, Ts, Gs, and Cs that form our blueprint) and snip off specific sections. Even more impressively, CRISPR can actually replace them with a new specific section of DNA.

 

In humans, this could be used for a variety of purposes. It could be used to target the segments of DNA that allow a virus to target cells, preventing a virus like HIV from doing its work. It could also theoretically allow scientists to edit or switch out the genes in an embryo that cause diseases like cystic fibrosis or the genes that code for a potentially serious blood disorder (which is what the research team in China was trying to do).

 

In theory of course, genetic editing could also be used to program specific "desired" genes into an embryo. If this embryo was implanted in a womb and brought to term, the person could pass their edited genes on to the next generation.

 

All a scientist has to do to make it work is inject the right set of CRISPR molecules that they want into a cell — in this case, an embryo — and the delivery system seeks out the sections you are looking for.

 

As Medvedik explains, once you have the equipment, you don't need much more to work with CRISPR.

 

To replace a gene in a cell, you would first pick out the specific CRISPR molecules needed. Once you've figured out which to use, they can be ordered from Addgene.org or many other websites, and the RNA that guides them to the correct spot on a genome can then be synthesized.

 

The next step would be to deliver one CRISPR-associated molecule that would nick or cut the section of DNA you want to remove and then, if you want, have another CRISPR molecule start a repair process there that would replace the removed code with whatever you desire.

 

Medvedik says that no one has worked with CRISPR yet at Genspace, but that they certainly could (though it wouldn't be to work with human embryos) — that CRISPR is just as easy to use as any other tool that edits DNA, except it's much more efficient.

 

 

 

If you were trying to edit embryos that were going to develop, you'd want to check that they were successfully edited after injecting the CRISPR molecules. That includes isolating several cells from the clump that is the embryo, and sequencing their DNA to see that it shows the desired changes — and no others.

 

If you find you've successfully edited a human embryo, the only step stopping you from having your very own designer baby is to implant that embryo into a human woman.

 

Designer babies aren't coming — yet — though

 

Medvedik knows that the embryo experiment got a lot of attention, but "the real technological breakthrough," he explains, was the discovery of CRISPR in 2012.

 

"Using it to knock something out in a human embryo," like the researchers who generated all the stir recently did, "is no different than using it knock out something in a monkey cell," he explains, which is research that has already been done.

 

But for now, the controversial CRISPR experiment showed us that this method is still far too inaccurate to actually be used for something like that (ethical questions aside).

 

The Sun Yat-sen University group tried to edit the DNA of 86 embryos (all nonviable). Of the 71 that survived the process, they examined 54, and CRISPR had only successfully made cuts in 28. Only a "fraction" of those actually had new DNA added to their genetic code. The CRISPR system also made additional, unintended cuts and substitutions, which could create new diseases. In other cases, it made the right changes in some cells of the embryo but not all of them, which could cause other problems.

 

Church told Business Insider that there are already much more accurate versions of CRISPR than the molecules chosen in that research, so there's already a possibility that current techniques may be better than those used in the study.

 

It's a fast-changing technology that has only been around a couple of years, but researchers are expected to publish more than 1,100 papers detailing their research on CRISPR this year alone, and much of that research involves making the system more efficient and accurate.

 

Improved accuracy means we could start to see CRISPR treatments that could wipe out the infectious potential of viruses like HIV — and eventually we could get to the point that it's possible to edit human embryos without creating all kinds of mutations.

 

Scientists like Doudna want us to take time to consider what it means to change the DNA people pass on before we go ahead and do it. But with this technology being this easily accessible and these experiments being technologically feasible, it's hard to think that somewhere, it won't happen.

[trichcycler]

Chinese scientists just admitted to tweaking the genes of human embryos for the first time in history ! 

 

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-scientists-genetic-modification-human-embryo-crispr-2015-4

A group of Chinese scientists just reported that they modified the genome of human embryos, something that has never been done in the history of the world, according to a report in Nature News.

 

A recent biotech discovery — one that has been called the biggest biotech discovery of the century — showed how scientists might be able to modify a human genome when that genome was still just in an embryo.

 

This could change not only the genetic material of a person, but could also change the DNA they pass on, removing "bad" genetic codes (and potentially adding "good" ones) and taking an active hand in evolution.

 

Concerned scientists published an argument that no one should edit the human genome in this way until we better understood the consequences after a report uncovered rumors that Chinese scientists were already working on using this technology.

 

But this new paper, published April 18 in the journal Protein and Cell by a Chinese group led by gene-function researcher Junjiu Huang of Sun Yat-sen University, shows that work has already been done, and Nature News spoke to a Chinese source that said at least four different groups are "pursuing gene editing in human embryos."

 

Specifically, the team tried to modify a gene in a non-viable embryo that would have been responsible for a deadly blood disorder. But they noted in the study that they encountered serious challenges, suggesting there are still significant hurdles before clinical use becomes a reality.

 

CRISPR, the technology that makes all this possible, can find bad sections of DNA and cut them and even replace them with DNA that doesn't code for deadly diseases, but it can also make unwanted substitutions. Its level of accuracy is still very low.

 

Huang's group successfully introduced the DNA they wanted in only "a fraction" of the 28 embryos that had been "successfully spliced" (they tried 86 embryos at the start and tested 54 of the 71 that survived the procedure). They also found a "surprising number of ‘off-target’ mutations," according to Nature News.

 

Huang told Nature News that they stopped then because they knew that if they were do this work medically, that success rate would need to be closer to 100%.

 

Our understanding of CRISPR needs to significantly develop before we get there, but this is a new technology that's changing rapidly.

 

Even though the Chinese team worked with non-viable embryos, embryos that cannot result in a live birth, some say that editing the human genome and changing the DNA of an embryo is ethically questionable, because it could lead to more uses of this technology in humans. Changing the DNA of viable embryos could have unpredictable results for future generations, and some researchers want us to understand this better before putting it into practice.

 

Still, many researchers think this technology (most don't think it's ready to be used yet) could be invaluable. It could eliminate genetic diseases like sickle cell anemia, Huntington's disease, and cystic fibrosis, all devastating illnesses caused by genes that could theoretically be removed.

 

 

Others fear that once we can do this accurately, it will inevitably be used to create designer humans with specific desired traits. After all, even though this research is considered questionable now, it is still actively being experimented with.

 

Huang told Nature News that both Nature and Science journals rejected his paper on embryo editing, "in part because of ethical objections." Neither journal commented to Nature News on that statement.

 

Huang plans on trying to improve the accuracy of CRISPR in animal models for now.

 

But CRISPR is reportedly quite easy to use, according to scientists who previously argued against doing this research in embryos now, meaning that it's incredibly likely these experiments will continue.

[trichcycler]

"Tissue Culture

Dinafem Seeds are also at the forefront of developing tissue-culture techniques to preserve and improve overall cannabis genetics. This “in vitro” form of asexual, meristematic cloning using agar as a medium for somatic embryogenesis will allow for the mass production of one phenotype with less than one percent variation. Or, in simpler terms, if they find a particular marijuana variety that’s resistant to the local fungi (in this case, fusarium), a tiny leaf sample can eventually produce large quantities of specimens with those desirable traits. By using a starting material that’s free of pathogens, the resulting “offspring” will show molecular markers for that same resistance to damaging fungi.

 

 

 

Another benefit of tissue culture is that it allows strains to be kept indefinitely, thus ensuring that no particular cannabis variety will ever become lost to us. Sadly, this has happened with more than one precious genetic treasure that we’ll never have the pleasure of smoking again. Cataloging and stockpiling this valuable material is vital to the preservation of pot strains and the diversity of the plant for the future."

 

http://www.hightimes.com/read/autoflowering-seeds-basque-country

[UK Tech House]

Dear Grassmatch

I have been been trying to locate a firm that could supply to the UK a range of tc clones, this would be invitro In callus form. Up until now I have had no luck locating such a company that could assist. I came across mmm and in particular your descusion in regards to a tissue cultured supply of invitro clones, I share your views on this and strongly feel that the seed industry is old had and someone needs to offer a range of genotypes in culture form. I am no expert in tc or botany but I would certainly be the first to explore an opportunity to start a cycle using tc starters rather than seeds or conventional clones. Are you aware of a biotech firm or keen individual that I could have a descusion with in regards to the possibility of a supply of cultured clones invitro to the UK.

I look forward to your reply

Regards

[ilynnboy]

What do ai smell Grass?

 

Trouble..

[ilynnboy]

Dude, ever hear of private message?

WTF??

Over.

 

Just wow..

Edited July 26, 2015 by ilynnboy

[ilynnboy]

You should try to contact Dutch passion,

they are already doing this in the UK

Edited July 26, 2015 by ilynnboy

[ilynnboy]

Grassmatcht you had better hold onto that library. it's going be worth a lot of money

Edited July 26, 2015 by ilynnboy

[trichcycler]

Dear Grassmatch

I have been been trying to locate a firm that could supply to the UK a range of tc clones, this would be invitro In callus form. Up until now I have had no luck locating such a company that could assist. I came across mmm and in particular your descusion in regards to a tissue cultured supply of invitro clones, I share your views on this and strongly feel that the seed industry is old had and someone needs to offer a range of genotypes in culture form. I am no expert in tc or botany but I would certainly be the first to explore an opportunity to start a cycle using tc starters rather than seeds or conventional clones. Are you aware of a biotech firm or keen individual that I could have a descusion with in regards to the possibility of a supply of cultured clones invitro to the UK.

I look forward to your reply

Regards

Hello Mate !

 

A couple things to ponder; no "kit" on the market today is able to finish a cultured cannabis plant.

I am not allowed to transfer suspended clones except to my patients(and I do !) No commercially available "kit"

is able to store cannabis cuttings in suspended animation.

 

I am already a supplier of culture mix/kits and would be happy to accommodate you. I will offer only the pre packaged

hermetically sealed foil packs containing the proper agar solutions for clonal storage, and the recipe's for successful cultured cannabis from start to flower.

 

If you're interested in acquiring cannabis explants/cultures in the multiplication/division stage from me you will need to be interviewed and accepted as my patient prior. Minimum purchases are required for all of the above, and I am not interested in sharing any business venture with anyone at this time.

 

I hope that helps, and I'll answer anything I can.