Pumpkin genetics/Bob Marcellus' comments


Bob and all, 

I believe the hierarchy tree we so often see has been widely accepted as the
standard method for illustrating pumpkin genetics because it is straight
forward and easy to follow. However, it is imperative that all who rely on
these trees for their information know how to interpret them properly. You
always need to go back a generation to discover who is the true father of a
pumpkin ( or any vegetable for that matter ). I believe these trees provide
a great, high level snapshot of the heredity of a seed and will be used
extensively for a long time to come.

However, I have thought many times about incorporating more scientifically
established methods and diagrams for illustrating pumpkin genetics into the
CucurByte software. I have always stopped short because I wasn't sure how
widely understood and therefore useful these would be. More than a passing
understanding of plant genetics would be required to properly interpret them
but they would indeed give the level of information that many seek at a
glance. 

Has anybody ever heard of Gregor Mendel? He is a 19th century scientist
regarded as a pioneer in the field of modern genetics. Here are some great
places to start to learn about his work and subsequent methods for tracking
plant genetics :

http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~weston/Ch10.html
http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/mirrors/MendelWeb/

Both these pages contain sections that document the established methods and
diagrams to which I am referring and discuss Mendelion genetics, Punnet
squares, etc. in detail..

I'd like to hear privately from anyone who would like to discuss this matter
further. Perhaps we can put our heads together and come up with something
those on all levels could learn from and appreciate.


Mike Nepereny

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