Important terms
In Duckweed Forum Volume 12 (3), issue 46, the ISCDRA defined a number of key terms in duckweed research. We here summarized their descriptions.
Ecotype: A population of different individuals from a species that are adapted to local environmental conditions, this therm should only be used if the sample captures local genetic diversity and the environmental conditions are well known.
Accession: A distinct, uniquely identifiable sample representing a cultivar, breeding line or a population, which is maintained in storage for conservation and use (WIEWS, 2019). In contrast to clones accessions can contain genetic variation, as such both clones and ecotypes are different types of accessions.
Line: All individuals originating from a single self-fertilizing individual, this term is largely inappropriate for duckweed research and should only be used in the context of duckweed cell lines originating from single cells.
Clone: The asexual offspring from a single frond/colony collected in the wild
Strain: A synonym for clone that should be avoided because genetic purity is not required for all definitions
Colony: A cluster of plants (mother plant plus daughter fronds plus next generations of fronds) originating from the same mother plant and still connected by stipes.
The ISCDRA recommends to use clone if your material is derived from a single frond and sample if your material is genetically heterogeneous.
Clone naming conventions
For clones with a four digit Landolt number the ISCDRA recommends to use that number for other clones the new naming standard, consisting of a two or three letter collection code followed by a three or four digit clone number, should be used (for details see Lam et al., 2020a, 2020b)
References:
WIEWS (2019) World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. FAO: Rome, Italy
Lam, E., Appenroth, K.J., Ma, Y., Shoham, T., Sree. K.S. (2020a) Discussion Forum: Registration of duckweed clones/ strains - Suggestions by the ISCDRA. Duckweed Forum 8: 6 - 7.
Lam, E., Appenroth, K.J., Ma, Y., Shoham, T., Sree. K.S. (2020b) Registration of duckweed clones/ strains – Future Approach. Duckweed Forum 8: 35 -37