James and the Giant Corn Genetics: Studying the Source Code of Nature

November 19, 2009

Not Genetically Engineered: Grapes

Filed under: Crop Profiles,Plant breeding,Plants — Tags: , , , , — James @ 11:19 am

New York Grapes. Concords I believe, though it's been several years so I may be remembering wrong.

New York Grapes. Concords I believe, though it's been several years so I may be remembering wrong.

Scientific Name: Vitis vinifera

Supposed Genetically Engineered Trait: Large size/seedlessness

The Real Story:

Seedless grapes are descended from several different mutations that all result in the developing embryos of grape seeds to abort prematurely*. You can still find the tiny dead remnants of seeds in seedless grapes. Of course being seedless raises a new question: How do plant breeders work with seedless grapes? (more…)

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