Quote:
Originally Posted by Darren Abbey
One aspect of plant biology which makes this idea have some merit is that the different branches may have accumulated different mutations relative to each other. The consequence of this is that if you always select the largest/best fruit on a plant, you may be selecting for mutations which have occurred in that branch which may have helped make large fruit… Though it is much more likely if every fruit on a branch is larger than those on other branches.
I don't know that this has been examined in detail in tomatoes, but in the human case each person is thought to have approximately 60 new mutations not found in their parents. ( http://www.sanger.ac.uk/about/press/2011/110612.html) I could imagine doing some calculations to derive the expected number of new mutations between two branches/fruit on a tomato plant, from the known rate of mutations and the number of cell divisions between any two places on the plant. |
I think what you're referring to is the difference between a DNA seed mutation and one that occurs in the DNA of a plant cell, which is called a somatic mutation.
With a somatic mutation one can get just one fruit of a different color than normal, that's how Yellow Risesentraube was found, all other fruits being the normal red color.
With a somatic mutation it depends on where the cell is located that sustains that mutation as to what youll get.
Many times it's just one branch that has fruits of a different shape or color from the rest of the fruits on a plant and those somatic mutations are spontaneous and heritable, so any seeds from them will give fruits that look the same.
A couple of examples.
Casino Chips is a cherry sized one that was found on one branch of the variety Casino, which is a large red.
I've seen a couple of them myself, thay aren't common.
Dix Doight de Naples gave me one branch that still had red fruits, but they were a different shape from the others.
Green Gage, which is yellow, gave me one branch of all red fruits, same size, same shape as the normal ones.
Another T storm coming so I'll have to come back later to post about saving seeds from just one fruit and adapation, and why saving seeds from just one fruit shouldn't be done, adaptation not with standing.
Carolyn