When a run - of - the - mill watermelon vine and a souped - up frankenmelon bed each other very much , they come together and make a baby seedless wundermelon .
Seedless Citrullus vulgaris are a lot like mule – sterile crossbreed formed by crossing genetically incompatible parents . Normal , sown watermelon are diploid ( have 2 Set of chromosomes ) just like us , with one set from mom and one from dad . When the two combine , their seeds grow into a plant that looks like a combination of its parents . Just like us .
But sometimes farmers care for some of their watermelon vine with colchicine , a chemical that allow chromosome to duplicate but prevents them from cleave into two cells .
This creates a tetraploid – a super - squash with four complete sets of chromosome . The fruit is n’t genetically modified ; cell contain the same DNA as received melon – just doubly as many .
Next , the farmer introduce this Modern tetraploid watermelon vine to a regular melon vine . If they hit it off , they ’ll produce a triploid melon vine with 3 sets of chromosome . This materialization will acquire up to be a normal looking vine that produces flowers and fruit . But when it seek to reproduce , the chromosomes ca n’t split the right way . This mean that real seeds never develop .
Those Little White Things
But wait a irregular - what are those soft white shells in the supposedly seedless melon that look like the tiny , underdeveloped ejaculate ? These are the ovules ( also called “ pips ” ) , the part of the works that would become the source in a normal watermelon vine . It ’s really just flaccid coating – you ca n’t actually plant them .
For the past 50 geezerhood , this melon vine has saved millions of adult from fall behind look in no - holds - barred semen – expectoration contests . Let ’s confront it : the nine - year - old always win . So next clock time you ’re savor seedless watermelon , show some gratitude for the miracle of science creditworthy for its existence .
