Marker-assisted selection programs have positioned themselves as high-value tools in production improvement schemes for agronomic and livestock systems. The implementation of genomic technologies applied to the selection of individuals possessing certain characteristics of interest has allowed the optimization of selection programs, mainly reducing the time intervals and costs required to achieve breeding and production objectives; these technologies possess qualities and clear advantages over morphological, biochemical and cytological markers due to their abundance, distribution in the genome, independence of the stage of development and environmental factors. Sexual dimorphism in Cannabis sativa is a characteristic of vital relevance and object of selection in the industry, since it is in the flower of female plants where the highest proportion of compounds of interest is produced and if the flowers are pollinated by male plants they will produce seeds that will affect the proportions of terpenes, THC and CBD, strongly affecting the yield, quality and productive capacity.
Recently, with the legalization of cannabis flower cultivation and use, different molecular markers have been employed to investigate its diversity, geographical origin, strain characterization, genetic linkage maps and sex determination. Discriminating between male and female cannabis plants at an early stage is highly useful in mass production schemes, since morphological discrimination of plant gender can be performed accurately in advanced stages of development, which implies long periods of time and expenses in nutrients and space that can yield negative results at the productive level. In recent years, different DNA markers predictive of gender in early developmental stages have been identified, validated and verified for such determination, which has allowed the implementation of selection schemes aimed at female plants with results of high predictive capacity and reliability. CannaSEX is a set of tests based on the amplification of nucleic acids specific for male individuals in plants of the following species
Cannabis sativa
in two presentations: Real-time (qPCR) using one genetic marker and conventional using two markers to be revealed in agarose gel electrophoresis.
