Re: HYB:pollen parent vs pod parent
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] HYB:pollen parent vs pod parent
- From: B* S*
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 09:11:31 -0500
>
>> Can someone tell me if it makes any difference which cultivator you choose
>> to be the pod parent or the pollen parent in a cross? I have tried some
> > both ways and wondered if it mattered
There is a thing called extra-chromosomal inheritance--very important
in plants, seemingly less so in animals. The pollen parent
contributes only 1/2 the nucleus, while the seed parent contributes
all the cytoplasm for the first cell of the new plant, as well as the
other 1/2 of the nucleus. Chloroplasts, mitochondria and other
organelles have their own DNA and their own genes. These always come
from the seed parent (or in animals--no chloroplasts of course--from
the mother). Thus in wide crosses, the offspring are more likely to
lean in some characters in the direction of seed parent. The effect
is usually not noticeable if the parents are quite similar to one
another.
By the way, cultivators make very poor parents from either side!
--
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
Moderating e-lists:
Coleus at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coleus
Opiliones at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opiliones
Myriapod at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/myriapod
"Almost any man knows how to earn money, but not one in a million
knows how to spend it. If he had known as much as this, he would
never have earned it"
--Henry David Thoreau, Journals, 1842.
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
