Dionaea muscipula or the Venus flytrap is an extremely remarkable plant. Charles Darwin even noted them to be “One of the most wonderful plants in the world”. Most of every child, plant collector, hobbyist, etc. would like to own one. The Venus flytrap plant is valued for its nearly interactive nature and alien appearance. As a truly carnivorous plant, it will form a perch for any unsuspecting fly or other insect, and close its modified leaf lobes, trapping its prey. Venus flytraps are successful miracles of evolution because of the sensitive hairs upon their modified leaf parts which are able to detect the touch of an insect part. After an insect, attracted to the secreted nectar, walks up the winged petiole of Dionaea muscipula, it has under 0.5 seconds between touching the “mouth” of the plant and being an imprisoned dinner. The sensitive cilia or teeth like structures which give the plant its character prevent the insect from escaping. The venus flytrap has adapted to this lifestyle due to the lacking of nutrients in the soil of its native habitat: the subtropical wetlands of southeastern America. All in all, this member of the Droseraceae or sundew family is a great candidate for tissue culture propagation.

Tip: They actually are adapted to prefer filling with digestive fluid for an insect meal over collecting nutrients from the soil. It is not wise to add synthetic/organic fertilizers into their potting media. It can injure or most likely kill the plant.

Tissue culture is essentially mans way of taking the most advantage of mitosis (the process in which asexual cells multiply). Tissue culture can be described as taking very small portions of a plant and submerging them in a nutrient medium within a controlled environment which results in the multiplication of plant cells which work to becoming a complete specimen. The small plant portions taken for the culture are defined as explants. This is possible because cells in any part of a plant contain the DNA or information to produce every cell for a full plant specimen.

The System Components:

It requires several necessary components in order to be successful. A selection of tools including a specialized scalpel and tweezers is required for harvesting the leaf or petiole parts from the selected specimen which is desired to be cloned. A clean workstation equipped with a tool sterilizer, a Laminar flow hood (finely filters air and blows across the table to force clean air up against the polluted air in the work space), and an incubator (Finely tuned enclosed environment for temperature, etc.). A nutrient and hormone solution is necessary to aid the plant parts which would not be performing photosynthesis or catching flies. nutrient solution would be composed of nutrient salts such as Vitamins/Essential plant nutrients, and Carbohydrates/sugars. The sugars would normally be created during photosynthesis. Hormones which include cytokinins, auxin (encourages cell elongation and adventitious growth) and plant growth regulators would also be in the media. These would all be combined with a gelling agent, containing chelates, and added into an auger which will primarily compose the media. Light, temperature, and humidity should additionally be precisely controlled in an incubator where the plant cells will accomplish tissue formation, form microshoots, and eventually make very sensitive plantlets.

It requires several necessary components in order to be successful. A selection of tools including a specialized scalpel and tweezers is required for harvesting the leaf or petiole parts from the selected specimen which is desired to be cloned. A clean workstation equipped with a tool sterilizer, a Laminar flow hood (finely filters air and blows across the table to force clean air up against the polluted air in the work space), and an incubator (Finely tuned enclosed environment for temperature, etc.). A nutrient and hormone solution is necessary to aid the plant parts which would not be performing photosynthesis or catching flies. nutrient solution would be composed of nutrient salts such as Vitamins/Essential plant nutrients, and Carbohydrates/sugars. The sugars would normally be created during photosynthesis. Hormones which include cytokinins, auxin (encourages cell elongation and adventitious growth) and plant growth regulators would also be in the media. These would all be combined with a gelling agent, containing chelates, and added into an auger which will primarily compose the media. Light, temperature, and humidity should additionally be precisely controlled in an incubator where the plant cells will accomplish tissue formation, form microshoots, and eventually make very sensitive plantlets.

Important: Keep hands washed throughout the process or wear sterile gloves.

TIP: A clean lab coat will prevent contaminants from being transferred into dishes.

- Sterilize scalpel and forceps in tool sterilizer (spares would be helpful in case of accidental contamination) Wrap in aluminum foil and allow to cool aside.

- Plant parts should be selected which are almost newly mature.

- They should be washed in a sterilized container of clean water with a miniscule amount of dawn dish soap. And dip-rinsed in Distilled water (Use forceps to hold plant parts and dip into the water).

- IMPORTANT: The cuttings are to be transferred into a container with a 1:10 Clorox Bleach solution, but only remain for FOUR MINUTES. (Bleach will begin to effect and kill the plant tissue after that point) and trim off accidental bleach damaged tissue if desired.

- IMPORTANT: At this point, all work should be done under the laminar flow hood on the cleaned table (Work table can be cleaned with Clorox surface cleaner)

- The leaves/petioles will be dip-rinsed three or four times in a series of 4-5 rinse cups additional sterile water containers filled with autoclaved water.

- Using the sterilized scalpel, ~2-3cm² portions of the leaf or petiole can be cut out and placed into the petri dish with the media with the forceps.

- Sterile petri dishes with lids will serve as the vessel for the plant parts. The explants will be placed into the media (This step is known as the Initiation of the Culture) and the dish will be closed and sealed with tephlon tape.

- The plant parts should be placed into the incubator (clear for removal from the clean table portion under the laminar flow hood)

- It is recommended to have grow light exposure for 14 hours a day during this process.

- Dishes should be inspected weekly to assure that they have failed or if the Petri dish was contaminated and taken over by a fungus or bacteria

- The plant parts within the tissue culture system will essentially become a callus (mass of undifferentiated plant cells) which will slowly transform into a fully formed plant.

- Microshoots will eventually form and most likely overcrowd the container. This calls for Multiplication (Dividing up the culture into more cultures)

- The newly formed plantlets would be very sensitive due to being in a very humid and controlled environment. They require a transition period between their Petri dishes and their pots in the outside world. (This involves an extremely slow alteration in humidity (Dropped slowly-controlled), open air exposure, locations with disease potential, and sunlight)

· Tools shall remain sterilized and placed on elevated tool stand under the laminar flow hood.

· Tools/Plant parts/ Petri Dishes should be kept over 6” into the table toward the laminar flow hood.

· Oneself shouldn’t be more than 4” over the work table (Hair, clothes, etc. re-emit bacteria, fungal spores, pollutants, etc.)

· Sealable sterilized jars can be used if sterile petri dishes are not available.

There is a significant amount of demand for venus flytraps, which are often sold as souvenirs and gifts. Oftentimes, in plant propagation, alternative methods for reproducing mass quantities of plants, beyond traditional methods such as seed production. This is usually due to improvements in efficiency (i.e. Time), and/or selectivity in genetics, and/or cost effectiveness. Effectiveness a soon to off because quantity Venus flytraps have a large quantity of genetic variation within their species. The phenotypes of standard seed propagated venus flytraps can vary extremely, so in order to mass propagate Venus flytraps for commercial sale, one must rely on an asexual propagation method. In a controlled environment, plants could be selectively hand pollinated, contained, and farmed for seed, but the process essentially requires the same amount of time and skilled labor to produce fewer seed than would-be plantlets from micro production i.e. tissue culture.

As if Dionaea muscipula couldn’t be more amazing than the straight species, there are many high value cultivars (Most of which have been discovered from the extreme variences in standard seed propagation) ‘FTS Archangel’ is a light red colored cultivar with bright yellow leaf edges. ‘DC All Red’ has foliage that is entirely a beet red color. ‘Cheerleader’ has the appearance of a pom-pom, hence the name. ‘Pinnacle’ is a very large and upright cultivar. ‘Crocodile’ is a weird cultivar which has no petioles. There are extensive numbers of cultivars with very unique characteristics from rounded cilia, to cultivars with leaves attached to leaves. Some are extremely high in value as specific cultivars. That is essentially why a tissue culture system is superior for their propagation. It is very important to keep the respective alleles for these fascinating genes well established and preserved.

https://www.botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html

https://www.flytrapcare.com/store/flytrapstore-lab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4w2qqNmL6U

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