First DNA study on Linnaeus’s plants published
For the first time, a DNA study has been conducted comparing Linnaeus’s living plants in Uppsala and his plant specimens at the Linnean Society in London. The results, published in the journal Taxon, show that the Siberian crab apple trees currently growing at Linnaeus’s Hammarby are not related to the tree Linnaeus planted in the Linnaeus Garden.
The study is a collaboration between researchers at Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The researchers were able to extract DNA from the Siberian crab apple tree that Linnaeus himself planted in the Linnaeus Garden, in Uppsala during the 18th century. The tree is no longer growing there, but one twig was preserved by Linnaeus and is kept at the Linnean Society’s herbarium in London.
The researchers compared the genetic fingerprint of the old plant specimen with the Siberian crab apple trees growing today in and around Linnaeus’s Hammarby. The results show that the trees at Hammarby are closely related to each other, but not to the twig in Linnaeus’s own herbarium.
“It is more closely related to trees from Russia and may have come to Linnaeus with a large shipment of seeds from Catherine the Great of Russia in 1773”, says Katarina Andreasen, lead author and docent at Uppsala University.
The researchers will continue to conduct comparative genetic studies of the other plants at Hammarby which may be Linnaeus’s own. Those that turn out to be genetically identical to or closely related to the plant specimens in Linnaeus’s herbarium are important to preserve for research and for future generations.
Reference:
“Genetic identity of putative Linnaean plants: Successful DNA amplification of Linnaeus’s crab apple Malus baccata”. Katarina Andreasen, Mariette Manktelow, Jasna Sehic, and Larisa Garkava-Gustavsson