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The main problem is how to stop genetic contamination from pollen. Petunias are from tomato family. As far as I know, there is not cross pollination between bot

The main problem is how to stop genetic contamination from pollen. Petunias are from tomato family. As far as I know, there is not cross pollination between both species, but maybe with the next species tried it could be. Or jump to native Solanaceae. Nobody wants this in their salad. If there is something that terrifies me more than the capacity of Solanaceae to make sophisticated, evil poisons is to weaponize them even more with the superpower of fungus genes. The new pollen allergies could rank between "nothing to see here" and "next terrible problem".

malfist 3y ago
That is not how plant breeding works. You cannot cross a tomato and a petunia.
- pvaldes 3y ago
  > You cannot cross a tomato and a petunia. As I said previously. But if you use this product in an area with native Petunioideae (like for example USA), any decent consultant would suggest assure that this pollen will not contaminate wild populations because you are messing with 1) Genetics 2) conservation of nature 3) Pollinators, and there are a few bobby traps lying in your path We could discover too late that the same gen codify for light and a 'surprise cadeau' that will accumulate toxins in the plant for example. Or that this changes the structure of pollinators in an undesirable way because they promote the contaminated genetics.
Loughla 3y ago
That isn't how genetics and plant breeding works? As an example; Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and orangutans are all in the same family. More likely would be that these cross-pollinate with other petunias in someone's garden. Which is almost entirely not a problem, unless there is something about these genes that cause the plants to just be massively invasive and spreading. But they're annuals with seeds that do not travel well, so mitigation of that issue should be relatively simple, even if it does exist.

malfist 3y ago

That is not how plant breeding works. You cannot cross a tomato and a petunia.

pvaldes 3y ago
> You cannot cross a tomato and a petunia. As I said previously. But if you use this product in an area with native Petunioideae (like for example USA), any decent consultant would suggest assure that this pollen will not contaminate wild populations because you are messing with 1) Genetics 2) conservation of nature 3) Pollinators, and there are a few bobby traps lying in your path We could discover too late that the same gen codify for light and a 'surprise cadeau' that will accumulate toxins in the plant for example. Or that this changes the structure of pollinators in an undesirable way because they promote the contaminated genetics.

Loughla 3y ago

That isn't how genetics and plant breeding works? As an example; Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and orangutans are all in the same family. More likely would be that these cross-pollinate with other petunias in someone's garden. Which is almost entirely not a problem, unless there is something about these genes that cause the plants to just be massively invasive and spreading. But they're annuals with seeds that do not travel well, so mitigation of that issue should be relatively simple, even if it does exist.