Definition of the Terms "clone" & "clonotype"

[Harro]

I found a very interesting article in: Die Bromelie 2016(2). This is the magazine of the German Bromelidad Society. Written in German and English.

With kind permission this article can be published here.

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Harro

[naoki]

As a biologist, I agree with most things there.  But at least in English, the definition of "a clone" includes "a ramet" nowadays.  In some contexts, a clone doesn't mean a ramet (e.g. in molecular cloning, where you insert genes in plasmids and replicate them in E. coli. A clone ).  But a ramet is always a clone. So nothing is wrong with calling an asexually reproduced individual a clone.

[Alexis]

In reality, a clone is just used as another word for individual when it comes to CPs.

[Marcus B]

9 hours ago, Alexis said:

In reality, a clone is just used as another word for individual when it comes to CPs.

The term clone should not be just another word for an individual.  It should be only applied as is appropriate, as the article correctly states, or confusion reigns.  Plants grown from seeds are not clones. They are genetically individuals, and not copies of each other. 

Plants propagated vegetatively are then clones of a seed grown plant. As Naoki has put it, for those of us trained in biology, "clone" has a defined meaning.

[Alexis]

True, but it's too late. You have as much chance of the correct meaning becoming common parlance as the cultivar system being used properly for Dionaea!