Grafts between families

[Shane]

I found some interesting graft research the other day
https://phys.org/news/2020-09-scientist ... ilies.html
Apparently some plants in the Nicotiana genus can form grafts with a wide range of plants in other many families. They didn't trying grafting cacti to Nicotiana. They did successfully graft other plants in the order Caryophyllales (which includes cacti), which raises some exotic graft possibilities. They also used Nicotiana as an interstock to facilitate grafting between families, which raises further interesting possibilities

[KonureKing]

That's incredible! I need to get my hands on some tobacco plants and start playing around with it

[KonureKing]

I just looked up the growth cycle of tobacco and it said their average lifespan is only 3 to 4 months. I don't know how long these grafts would last It'd be interesting to see what the longevity of theses mixes would be.

[DaveW]

I understood Tobacco (Nicotiana) plants and Tomatoes were in the same Solanaceae family?

https://science.jrank.org/pages/6859/To ... he%20field.

The graft union between the Nicotiana and Chrysanthemum = Asteraceae is more interesting as they are different families. Did they also try and graft the tomato directly onto the Chrysanthemum = Asteraceae since both the tomato and Nicotiana are Solanaceae?

There is also such a thing as false grafting where a non related plant seems to take for a while but the graft eventually fails. If as KonureKing says Nicotiana only has a lifespan of 3 to 4 months, information on the longevity of the grafts would have been interesting

[Shane]

I understood Tobacco (Nicotiana) plants and Tomatoes were in the same Solanaceae family?
[...]
The graft union between the Nicotiana and Chrysanthemum = Asteraceae is more interesting as they are different families. Did they also try and graft the tomato directly onto the Chrysanthemum = Asteraceae since both the tomato and Nicotiana are Solanaceae?

There is also such a thing as false grafting where a non related plant seems to take for a while but the graft eventually fails. If as KonureKing says Nicotiana only has a lifespan of 3 to 4 months, information on the longevity of the grafts would have been interesting

They are in the same family. I believe Nicotiana was used as an interstock between the tomatato and Chrysanthemum. A lot of what was in the paper was way over my head. I think their basic hypothesis was Nicotiana benthamiana produces enzymes (β-1,4-glucanases) that promote the processes that lead to a successful graft. It looks like they didn't try to graft the tomato onto the Chrysanthemum, but they did try grafting soybeans to Chrysanthemum, which failed (then they analyzed genetic differences to infer what the caused the successful vs unsuccessful grafts)

Here's the actual paper (well a preprint version) if anyone's interested. It's a slog:
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... glucanases

As for the graft longevity, I'm curious too. They kept at least some of them alive for 4 months, at which point it looks like they dissected them to inspect the graft unions. All the scions they discuss in depth are pretty short lived anyway. Certainly the paper raises a lot of questions that hopefully further research will explore. The biggest question I have is 'If the Nicotiana benthamiana has this special grafting ability because it produces β-1,4-glucanases, could you just slather some of that stuff on an interfamily graft and forget the interstock?'

For anyone interested in doing their own research, you can buy Nicotiana benthamiana seeds here:
https://herbalistics.com.au/product/nic ... iana-seed/

[One Windowsill]

If Nicotiana glauca would work, that would be a better long-term prospect. And a use for a vile weed.

I would guess that sustained low-level release is what is needed for the glucanases, so one dollop at the start would not be helpful. The enzymes dissolve cellulose, so too much would just remove all the cell walls.

[Shane]

If Nicotiana glauca would work, that would be a better long-term prospect. And a use for a vile weed.

I would guess that sustained low-level release is what is needed for the glucanases, so one dollop at the start would not be helpful. The enzymes dissolve cellulose, so too much would just remove all the cell walls.

Hmm that's a good question. I suspect benthamiana was chosen at least partially because it's a common lab plant. They mention some previous work people did, which might shed some light on whether other Nicotiana species could work

Thanks for the comment on the glucanases, a lot of the biology here is over my head and I'm glad you could clear that up for me