Re: pumpkin/squash

pumpkins@mallorn.com wrote:
> 
> I had asked the question earlier about the squash/pumpkin, and heard
> that a squash x pumpkin will produce a squash that year, and the pumpkin
> trait will not show up till following year in the seeds.This is news to
> me, and just looking for some more thought on this subject.Pumpkinpiper
>
  One need know no pumpkin genetics to anaswer that question. First
recall the litte pumpkin below the flower. Second, cut open a ripe
pumpkin, study what you see and think. You will soon realize someone was
trying to pull your leg. 
  I used to tell my son some tall tales as a way of teaching him and if
he seemed skeptical, I said, "I never tell you more than I think you are
willing to believe." As, an instance, I reminded him of the no smoking
signs in barns and told him the farmer was worried that if you struck a
match too near a cow she might explode due to the methane she belches
[one cow produces enough methane to heat my lab]. I was trying to get
him to contemplate the volumes of methane produced. 
  Back to Crop Genetics, at blossom time the pollen germinates on the
stigma and the male nucleus moves down toward the egg. The male nucleus
divides. One nucleus unites with the egg creating a 2N Zygote. The other
nucleus unites with the two polar bodies creating the 3N endosperm. The
endosperm is inside the seed and never amounts to much as the embryo
consumes all the starch (unlike corn where the endosperm is a big object
and therefore the corn grain shows traits of the male in the same season
(because the pericarp is colorless). 
  You are correct. No results from the squash pollen will be seen until
the second season. UNLESS!! Unless, all those growing pumpkin/squash
embryos secrete a super hormone which gets out of the seed, moves
somewhere, and affects the growth of the fruit. I know nothing about
that, but please recall that the growing seeds in the apple affect fruit
development. In apple, this could be an entirely a maternal effect with
the mother apple seeing the little seed and trying to build a better
home for it.  
-- 
Harold Eddleman Ph.D. Microbiologist.       i*@disknet.com 
Location: Palmyra IN USA; 36 kilometers west of Louisville, Kentucky
http://www.disknet.com/indiana_biolab



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