By Krit Raemakers, owner of Plant Cytometry Services
Expert in flow cytometry and plant breeding
The complex genetics of the orchid
Orchids are among the most species-rich plant families on earth, with an estimated 25,000 species. Yet only a small part of this colourful family eventually finds its way into living rooms, greenhouses and garden centres. The path from wild species to commercial plant is anything but easy.
For many years, ornamental plant cultivation has been working with breeding, whereby different species are crossed with each other to develop new, attractive varieties. But for orchids, this brings unique challenges. The use of genetically diverse species can lead to enormous differences in genome size – sometimes a tenfold difference between the obtained “novelty” and the original species. Almost all species are endopolyploid, i.e. naturally have nuclei with a higher ploidy level. This makes the genetic puzzle even more complicated.