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These are cotton candy grapes. They are a horticultural variety that was produced through traditional breeding practices to increase the sugar content, reduce t
by whyenot 6y ago
These are cotton candy grapes. They are a horticultural variety that was produced through traditional breeding practices to increase the sugar content, reduce tartness, and add the hint of vanilla flavor. Those all come from traditional crossing of other genetic lines of grapes. The process was more difficult because cotton candy grapes are seedless, so each generation had to be propagated using tissue culture.
- ed25519FUUU 6y agoDon’t they usually just keep the parent strains a secret and create hybrid seeds?
- wmoxam 6y agoNo, not for grapes
- WatchDog 6y agoHow do they selectively breed seedless plants? Wont plants propagated via tissue have the same DNA?
- markdown 6y agoYup, I don't understand this. Vegetative propagation is cloning.
- whyenot 6y agoNo, because the part of the plant that is being tissue cultured is the immature embryo. After pollination, the flowers of seedless grapes still produce an embryo, but the embryo stops developing when it is very small, and there is no fully formed seed (a process called stenospermocarpy). To grow the offspring of a cross, breeders have to dissect the immature fruit (the flower's ovary) and remove the immature embryo. The embryo is then transferred to tissue culture media where it is grown into a plant with roots and leaves that can eventually be transferred to soil.
- wil421 6y agoAre you certain the grapes are cloned using the embryos? Or are they propagated from cuttings?
- whyenot 6y agoIn the breeding process, I am absolutely sure that during the breeding process they propagated using immature embryos. "Cloning" by definition implies vegetative propagation, and I'm sure when they finished the breeding process that is how they have propagated this cultivar. If you are interested in more of the details, there is a wikipedia article on cotton candy grapes, If you look in the references, there are several articles with more on how the variety was produced.
- jcims 6y agoI can't imagine eating them regularly but they are definitely worth trying out. Pretty unique experience.
- Accacin 6y agoAt least here in the UK, Sainsbury's and Lidl sell them without this EULA on them.