36 CIENCIAS Frequency of Somaclonal Variation in Micropropagated Citrus Trees Citrus groves in Puerto Rico and around the world face the severe threat of Citrus-greening disease. For farmers, micropropagation of Citrus trees is indeed a promising alternative to grafting in order to replace infected trees. More added, micropropagation is a reliable option when looking after Citrus trees that are free of disease and possess the same overall genetic traits. However, there is conclusive evidence supporting that the technique of micropropagation has the potential to induce somaclonal variations. It is imperative to maintain genetic fidelity when employing micropropagation on large-scales; thus, genetic variations are undesirable. On the other hand, such genetic variations may be a true source for variability, such as commercially desirable phenotypes or plants that are resistant to disease. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA has been employed to determine the presence and frequency of somaclonal variations in micropropagated Citrus trees. The principle stands on generating a specific genetic profile for each micropropagated plant that is compared to the profile produced by the original source of the tissue (mother tissue). For this procedure, genomic DNA extracted from 20 original tissue plants was amplified by polymerase chain reaction using ten different primers. These amplifications produced genetic profiles for each mother tissue. These genetic profiles will allow for the detection of somaclonal variations in micropropagated citrus trees, and thus the calculation of its frequency. samuel a n i brofen-quiñones maestría en ciencias con especialidad en biotecnología mentor: dra. ana e. pérez matos somaclonal variation micropropagation citrus trees rapd
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