This is a chimera and if the flesh is red it may be called a sectoral chimera meaning a whole section of various layers of tissue have mutated in deference to chimeras that usually occur in one specific layer of tissue. For example, one of the most common is a mutation on the skin where the whole surface or a section of the surface mutates. I am sure geneticists could explain better.
I have seen 100s of chimeras in plants. Some of the commons are Red Bartletts, Other Red pears, some of the early Red galas, Triple Red Delicious types, thornless brambles, compact or brachytic type apples and peaches. I used to get many samples when I was research director at a large nursery and people would send them in as new varieties. Also when a new variety was grown in a scion orchard and cut back severely you could see chimeras on some varieties originate from adventitious buds below the outer layers of tissue. This is why new varieties should be propagated from fruiting trees until they are stable. Dr. Dan Dayton of the University of Illinois wrote a review article of chimeras in the sixties and I believe it was Dr. Charlotte Pratt at Cornell that used to a lot of work with chimeras and has published articles on them. I cannot recall if I ever saw a chimera in a Golden Delicious, but have seen red apples with yellow sections of tissue Jerome L. "Jerry" Frecon Agricultural Agent I (Professor 1) Gloucester County Extension Department Head Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension, Gloucester County 1200 North Delsea Drive, Clayton, N.J. 08312 Phone 856 307-6450 Ext 1 Fax 856 307-6476 http://gloucester.njaes.rutgers.edu _____ From: apple-crop@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-c...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Jourdain Jean-Marc Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 12:13 PM To: Apple-Crop Subject: RE: Apple-Crop: Real or not? Hello all. I am used with chimeric mutations forward and backward on red del, gala strains but never saw one for golden. Never heard about red mutants from Golden, it drives my opinion to this being a fake, but I would be pleased if this mutant would be from real life, and would be pleased to have related information on this topic from members too. In case it is a chimeric mutant (the cells with the mutation are not in the core of the meristem, but in a second ring of cells) then possibly the shoot at the base of the fruit will give some buds with totally red apples and totally yellow ones. Chance to get one more apple with half red color are very poor imha. Jean Marc Jourdain Jourdain(at)ctifl.fr Ctifl France _____ De : apple-crop@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-c...@virtualorchard.net] De la part de Evan B. Milburn Envoyé : lundi 5 octobre 2009 17:27 À : Apple-Crop Objet : Re: Apple-Crop: Real or not? No big deal! I see this quite often in our orchard. I'm sure all commerical growers have too. Evan Milburn Milburnorchards.com --- On Mon, 10/5/09, Daniel Cooley <dcoo...@microbio.umass.edu> wrote: From: Daniel Cooley <dcoo...@microbio.umass.edu> Subject: Apple-Crop: Real or not? To: "Apple-Crop" <apple-crop@virtualorchard.net> Date: Monday, October 5, 2009, 10:43 AM Personally, I think this is the pomological equivalent of the Piltdown Man, made easy by the developmen of Photoshop, but I'm open to opposing views. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6229243/Million-to-o ne-apple-is-half-red-half-green.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 'Apple-Crop' LISTSERV is sponsored by the Virtual Orchard<http://www.virtualorchard.net <http://www.virtualorchard.net/> > and managed by Win Cowgill and JonClements <webmas...@virtualorchard.net <http://us.mc561.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=webmas...@virtualorchard.net> >. Apple-Crop is not moderated. Therefore, the statements do not represent"official" opinions and the Virtual Orchard takes no responsibility forthe content.
