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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 5, 2015 19:49:49 GMT -5
Here's another seedless melon candidate... The mother was a round striped diploid.  Two more candidates: The mother was like the oblong light green melon. The presumed pollen donor was round. Shape of the offspring is mid-way between the two presumed parents, and striped like the presumed pollen donor.  Comparing leaf size between the presumed triploid, and the presumed diploid parent.  In the worst case scenario, I've made hybrids between some of my favorite diploid melons... |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Aug 11, 2015 12:51:09 GMT -5
I know it's too early to know if your project was successful, but assuming it was could you use the same techniques to produce fertile interspecific hybrids that would not normally be fertile by using the colchicine to then double the ploidy number? like perhaps actually cross a watermelon with a cantaloupe or something else just as crazy but exciting. I got the idea off of this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jostaberry |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 11, 2015 15:23:47 GMT -5
I know it's too early to know if your project was successful, but assuming it was could you use the same techniques to produce fertile interspecific hybrids that would not normally be fertile by using the colchicine to then double the ploidy number? like perhaps actually cross a watermelon with a cantaloupe or something else just as crazy but exciting. I've been daydreaming about this sort of thing... I have oryzalin to attempt the ploidy doubling... I've been nurturing ill family the last couple growing seasons, so I'm not playing as much as I'd like with fun projects. I've been thinking about making tetraploids of all the common squash species, and then allowing them to re-combine... Sunroots have a ploidy of 6N, and annual sunflowers have a ploidy of 2N. So interspecific crosses between them end up being tetraploids. I expect some of those to arise in my sunroot breeding program since I have annual sunflower weeds growing near the sunroots. This spring I planted lots of sunroot seeds in a flat and identified a few that looked like interspecies hybrids. Alas, they didn't survive transplanting into the garden. The analog in the squash family would be to make one tetraploid squash, then cross it with a diploid to make infertile triploid squash, then paint the shoots with a chromosome doubling agent to make hexaploid squash which aught to be fertile... Then that could be pollinated with any diploid squash species, and if they successfully combine the result would be tetraploid squash. I like the hexaploid path to tetraploid squash, because in theory any closely related diploid squash variety could be used as a pollen donor, thus tremendously simplifying the addition of new genes to the pool. |
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Post by cletus on Aug 13, 2015 12:31:15 GMT -5
I wonder if the pollen donor was a more divergent species like buffalo gourd how much the fertility of the tetraploids would be reduced. Maybe still somewhat reduced but not as much as a diploid x diploid? It would be nice if you could get perennially from the buffalo gourd with just 1n with the other 3n from cultivated species, then it could be easier to select out undesirable wild genetics.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Aug 13, 2015 13:32:00 GMT -5
Yeah, a perennial cultivated and edible squash would be an amazing feat!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 15, 2015 10:04:01 GMT -5
I'm declaring this project a bust... I didn't find any seedless watermelons. I have more chromosome doubling agent. Perhaps I'll try again.
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Post by oldmobie on Sept 15, 2015 16:38:57 GMT -5
I'm declaring this project a bust... Maybe the guy in this video could help. Aparently (on his planet) watermelons outcross aggressively with any plant within a mile. |
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Post by imgrimmer on Sept 17, 2015 14:50:05 GMT -5
didn`t know that watermelons are dangerous....
what a funny guy!
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Post by cletus on Sept 23, 2015 20:46:34 GMT -5
Joseph, it would be interesting to see for how many generations the heterosis in the mutagenized diploid watermelons lasts. Will you see if they keep their vigor?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 23, 2015 21:47:57 GMT -5
Joseph, it would be interesting to see for how many generations the heterosis in the mutagenized diploid watermelons lasts. Will you see if they keep their vigor? This year I didn't even grow the original non-mutagenized version... My daddy is still growing it. I collected some really gorgeous melons this fall of the mutagenized version of Charleston Gray. I hope that I get a picture taken to share. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Sept 23, 2015 22:38:58 GMT -5
The field of epigentics fascinates me as well. Awhile back i had read scientist found chemicals that could remove all epigentic markers or the things that bind dna from being expressed basically making the dna go back to a "clean slate". It would be interesting to experiment with those chemicals on plants like watermelon to see if that could reawaken dormant genes that could help them adapt to a new environment. The possible downside though is that potentially it could reawaken a dormant bitterness gene or something undesirable. But it would be interesting.
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Post by kazedwards on May 13, 2016 1:01:51 GMT -5
Any update on this project?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 13, 2016 10:10:45 GMT -5
Any update on this project? I didn't find any seedless watermelons among the offspring, so I'm interpreting that to mean that the conversion to tetraploid was not successful. Last year was a bad gardening year for me. I intend to attempt the tetrapoid conversion this summer on both species. |
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Post by samyaza on May 13, 2016 15:46:20 GMT -5
I'm declaring this project a bust... Maybe the guy in this video could help. Aparently (on his planet) watermelons outcross aggressively with any plant within a mile. Unfortunately, this video is unavailable for French viewers because it includes protected content by French TV channel TF1. Such a shame... I'm pretty sure I'd have a good time. |
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Post by gilbert on Apr 5, 2017 12:58:22 GMT -5
If the melons were not tetraploid, as seems to be the case, why were there such dramatic changes in phenotype?
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