Re: status update 28Jan04

Pierre, I think your points are especially well taken.
 
The issues of gamete competition and non-viability certainly can and will distort any possible Punnett array, possibly making the one that does apply to the genetic data difficult if not impossible to identify.
 
One thing gives me hope.  In the communications received from the Suttons, it is noted that the disturbances of flower form, for example, that were the hallmark of early SA X SA crosses and made the type cross almost a waste of time, no longer seems to be true, or at least, *as* true as it once was.
 
Successive generations and selection of the more regular performing seedlings and selection away from those prone to disturbed behavior seems to have had an effect.  I would surmise that recessives associated with the SA traits have slowly been left behind.  You are correct in the statement that such recessives can ride along generation after generation since only one "normal" gene of the four possible for many traits may be sufficient for viabilitity in the plant.  It does appear, however, that many of the negative traits have indeed been left behind or greatly reduced in prominance in Space Age behavior.
 
Since those very traits we seek to understand are very basic in flower form we are presumably dealing with conditions that affect the differentiation of meristematic tissues into functional parts.  I would expect the genetics of such traits to be far more difficult to identify or pin down than simple pigment formation, for example.
 
Disturbances of the differentiation process sufficient to produce Space Age traits may well have other consequences in the plant's physiology, some of which may indeed be lethal.  Due to the distortion of inheritance patterns we may expect if this be true, we will need particularly astute geneticists and plant physiologists to help interpret the data.  Fortunately such people do exist within the fold of the Society.  I have some confidence their aid can be enlisted.
 
Thank you for your continuing helpful comments.  Please don't stop!
 
Neil Mogensen  z 7 western NC

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