Question about bicolors...

[pooklette]

I recently read Carol Deppe's book, "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" and have peeked at the TGRC gene lists so I have a very basic understanding of tomato genetics...I hope. One of the things I still can't figure out is:

Where do bicolors come from?

I understand that "rr" results in yellow flesh. I assume that "RR" would be red flesh then. Since stable OP tomatoes are generally homozygous for each gene because they're inbreeders...is there a specific gene that creates the bicolors I so love?

I'm sure your answers will prompt more questions but I can't help being a curious soul so...thanks in advance!

Megan

[pooklette]

Thanks Keith!

I have another question that is somewhat related. With color, is it an 'either or' kind of relationship? Meaning: can you have a combination of (r^y, r^y) and (gr, gr) in the same fruit or is it restricted to just one or the other?

For example, I'm picturing something like the Ananas Noir with it's carnival of colors. If a person were to cross a bicolor with a tomato carrying the (gr,gr) pair, would they eventually find a funky multi-colored tomato in the offspring? Or is that a whole 'nother' ball game entirely?

Megan

[pooklette]

Originally Posted by kctomato

Ive tried to cross Cherokee Green with Little Lucky and Lucky Cross this year but Im not sure it has "taken".

I would love to hear about the results of that cross if it did indeed 'take'. I bet you're going to have a ton of interesting observations in the F2 and beyond.

On a somewhat related note...I tried to cross a Black Krim and a Big Rainbow this season. In another thread, I read that black tomatoes have gf in their genetic mix so I'm just dying to see what I get from that crossed with a bicolor. If the cross took at all I'm hoping I'll get a funky large yellow/red/green multicolored tomato in the next few years. I love the flavor of both parents so the outcome should be interesting in that regard too. We shall see!