This article focuses on how cannabis plants can control phenotypical expressions based on environmental factors without altering DNA. If you are not familiar with the central dogma (DNA -> RNA -> Protein) my last article quickly goes over this topic which is the foundation of how genes are expressed and how proteins are created. You can click here to view that article.
One popular topic in the cannabis community that involves epigenetic pathways is the creation of feminized seeds. A female cannabis plant that would never produce female pollen under normal circumstances can be stimulated to do so by stressing it with STS or colloidal spray solutions. That same female cannabis plant clearly has the DNA to create male reproductive structures that produce pollen and it is understood that the spray solutions are not changing the DNA of the female plant but causing the plant to activate genes that it normally would not activate.
How cells choose which genes will be expressed:
*Image from Wikipedia*
Adding a methyl group to DNA makes that gene inactive and NOT expressed. This is methylation.
Acetylation makes the DNA available to be expressed since it is NOT wrapped around a histone. You can see that difference in the image above.
Making Connections:
We can compare this process to our own sexual DNA. I am a male and have a male reproductive organ that corresponds to the Y chromosome in my DNA. If for some reason my Y chromosome did not work, my body would have used my other chromosome to build a reproductive organ- the X chromosome. Since I have both an X and Y chromosome, my body has the option to build a male or female reproductive organ. Epigenetics is the system that blocks some genes from being expressed while allowing other genes to be expressed. Like my body choosing to make me a male and not a female by activating my Y chromosome and deactivating my X chromosome even though I have the genes to be both!
Most cannabis plants have the genes to herm but only use epigenetic pathways to activate these genes when triggered by the environment or other factors.
Spraying cannabis plants with STS or colloidal silver solutions creates an epigenetic pathway that allows them to express reproductive genes that they would normally not express. A major question with this process is whether these pathways created by stressing plants impact the epigenetic expressions of the seeds created by feminized plants.
The next article will use research gathered by scientists that have been peer-reviewed and published that will show evidence for whether feminized cannabis seeds are more likely to produce "herm" plants that have both male and female reproductive organs or not.
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