On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:32:17 GMT, "James Silverton"
> wrote:

>I am still rather puzzled. A clone in genetics is an exact
>replica. Cloning, in horticulture and biology, produces an
>organism whose genetic information is identical to that from
>which it was created.

You are right. Clones are genetically identical.

But I think in everyday usage, if you take a number of cutting from
the same vine, they would be called clones - even if small mutations
caused the cuttings to have slightly different DNA. Frankly no one
would really know whether they are true clones or not - it was only
recently, wasn't it, that the complete DNA sequence of a grape (a
Pinot Noir) was published.

The different clones sold by nurseries would be more distinct, and
would have documented properties.

Presumably vines also sometimes mutate into something totally
different, at which point they would be destroyed - isn't that one of
the possible consequences of viral infection?

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher