North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Paul Cabe" <CabeP@wlu.edu>]

I've read that other flowers are bred from seeds exposed to 
colchicine, which damages (changes) the genome.  Maybe that's used to 
create polyploidy, I forget the details.

Ginda

 

You remember correctly.  Colchicine disrupts the mitotic spindle apparatus, and has long been used to increase ploidy levels.  Can be done to double the chromosome number in a cultivar, or sometimes to double the chromosomes in a sterile hybrid to make it fertile. 

In general, cell size is correlated with DNA/chromosome content in the nucleus, so more chromosomes often mean bigger cells, and by extension, bigger fruits, flowers etc.  Fruits, having larger cells and thus less abundant cell walls, may be juicier or more tender.

 

best,

Paul Cabe

On Aug 28, 2007, at 11:04 PM, S & E Hills wrote:

> I don?t recall the source, but I recall reading that new varieties 
> of African Violets were bred using seeds that had been taken into 
> space and exposed to solar radiation.
>
>
>
> Scott Hills
>
>
>
> From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-
> bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Brungardt, Sam
> Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:08 AM
> To: North American Fruit Explorers
> Subject: [NAFEX] Useful Mutants, Bred With Radiation (New York Times)
>
>
>
>
>
> Some of you may find this story disturbing, but I found it 
> interesting and informative even though the writer described 
> Japanese pears as a cross between apples and pears. -- Sam 
> Brungardt, St. Paul, Minn.
>
> Useful Mutants, Bred With Radiation
> Public fears aside, scientists mimic nature's genetic scrambling 
> to  bolster fruits and vegetables, as well as beer and whiskey.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html?th&emc=th
>
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End of nafex Digest, Vol 55, Issue 61
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!SIG:46d4f991168491560781420!

 

 

Paul R. Cabe, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
(540)458-8894
(540)458-8012 (fax)