Quote:
Originally Posted by AlittleSalt
That gives everyone who really wants to try to figure them out one fact - they do grow and produce even if they do turn out to be F2s. It will be interesting to see how the next generation turns out.
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We've actually got something a bit more interesting here.
From the
patent we know the striped strain was produced via mutation breeding. The striped trait has turned out to be not heritable (or at least it is very poorly heritable) through seeds, though it is obviously heritable through vegetative propagation techniques. Thus the striped plants represent clones of a single M1 (the first generation post-mutagenesis). The seeds we have been growing represent not F2s, but M2s (the second generation post-mutagenesis).
In any sort of mutation breeding experiment, you use a sufficiently high dose of the mutagen so that you are very likely to find selectable variation. A consequence of this is that the M1 plant that was found to have striped fruit likely has many other hidden mutations from the treatment. In the M2 generation, these mutations will be segregating (just like in F2s). Of my 7 plants, 1 has purple marks on the petal tips and another has intense black shoulders on the fruit. Two visible mutations segregating out of seven plants again suggests there are many more that remain hidden yet.
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As an aside, I expect even the vegetatively propagated plants don't always produce striped fruit. Any solid yellow or red fruit would simply be sold with regular yellow or red fruit. These plain-fruited plants might be culled as soon as they reveal themselves.