Scientists have found the "Sugar Apples" genetic "switch" seeds

Removal of the gene responsible for the normal formation of "embryos" could, seeds, seedless varieties, "Sugar Apples", popular in Latin America, Annona squamosa fruit trees, said in an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Removal of the gene responsible for the normal formation of "embryos" could, seeds, seedless varieties, "Sugar Apples", popular in Latin America, Annona squamosa fruit trees, said in an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists believe that their study does not only make it possible to better understand the process of the formation of the seed and the evolution of Angiosperms, but can open up new commercial opportunities for fruit tree genus Annona. "This could be a new banana-(no seeds) would make this fruit is much more popular," said Gasser. Various varieties of bananas, one of the most common crops belong to the artificial kind, obtained from breeding. This species has virtually no seeds, so plants propagated by vegetative cuttings. The wild banana in one same fruit can be up to 100 seeds. In addition to bananas, there are also all the seeds of cultivars of pineapple and some varieties of citrus, melons and grapes. The group, led by Charles Gassera (Charles Gasser) of the University of California at Davis studied the spontaneous mutation of Annona squamosa, which resulted in one of its varieties was planted without seed. To the same genus, widespread in Latin America and the Pacific region include Cherimoya (Annona cherimola), and sauasep, or "soursop (Annona muricata). The fruits of these trees are edible fresh and used in desserts, ice cream, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks. Usually one fruit trees of this kind of 20-30 seeds, but the mutant fruits developed normally and without them. Scientists have found that the formation of seeds had been hampered by a lack of the ovules, their "germ", the outer envelope. A similar defect was observed in "Seedless" varieties of model plants Arabidopsis thaliana that did not have the gene, called INO. By comparing the genetic material and the development of the fetus at three specimens-model plant, a mutant and a "normal" Annona squamosa, Gasser and his colleagues have found that there is no analogue of the INO mutant, well visible from the conventional plants. Thus, according to the researchers, INO could be the first candidate in the bessemânnosti genes. "