Plant breeders test drive first open-source seed bank

Crop cultivation has a long history in human civilization, with records showing the cultivation of cereal plants beginning at around 8000 BC. This early plant breeding was developed primarily to provide a steady supply of food.

Overview

Overview

Most plants are seed plants—characterized by seeds, pollen, and reduced gametophytes. Seed plants include gymnosperms and angiosperms.

Alleles are different forms of the same gene. Humans and other diploid organisms inherit two alleles of every gene, one from each parent.

Trihybrid Crosses
Some of Mendel’s crosses examined three pairs of contrasting characteristics. Such a cross is called a trihybrid cross. A trihybrid cross is a combination of three individual monohybrid crosses. For example, plant height (tall vs. short), seed shape (round vs. wrinkled), and seed color (yellow vs. green).
The F1 generation plants of a trihybrid cross are heterozygous for all three traits and produce eight gametes. Upon self-fertilization, these gametes have an equal...