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Stanwood, Washington

So heres a Hypothetical question.
Lets say I grow a seed in great soil properly ammended with all the right fertalizers and microbes and get a 1600 pound pumpkin. Now lets say that I had an exact clone of that seed and planted it in bad soil with inadequate sun didn't do any pruning and got a 100 pound pumpkins. If the genetics that went in to the pumkins were exactly the same including the pollinator. would the genetics passed on in their seeds be exactly the same or would the larger pumpkin have better genetics as a result of the environmental factors.

5/25/2011 1:15:46 PM

Germany

From the genetic point, it would not make any difference by means of the probability that the seeds inherit the same advantageous genes. The clone mum and dad are definitely capable of transferring the same genetic information. However, there might still be (but not necessarily) noticeable differences between the seeds of those two pumpkins. 1) The lack of fertilizer (e.g., less selenium among the trace minerals) might cause the light-weight seeds be less viable. 2) Each organism is subject to spontaneous mutations, and some of them become manifest in irreversibly changed genes...only a few genes, but they may cause different features of the following generation. Mutation (the probability of mutation) is another property which is likely to depend on the diet of your pumpkin plant. A healthy plant should be more resistant against mutation...in my opinion.

5/25/2011 3:31:15 PM