Does this make sense from genetics point of view?

[tatiana]

One of the parents is green-when-ripe, F1 fruit is a medium sized bi-color, one of the F2 segregations is a chocolate large cherry/saladette.

Does this make sense?

See details here: tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/%28Spear%27s%29_Tennessee_Green,_Yellow_Strain

[tz]

I may be wrong, but I think that the size reduction to a cherry/saladette is more in line with a cherry crossing with the F1 rather than segregation in F2s. I'm not that familiar with the bicolor gene but the bicolor fruit/plant may have been heterozygous for gf and bicolor, with the bicolor dominating?. Then if it crossed with something like black cherry you would get the segregation.

I'm curious as to why you are putting rogue F1s and unstable F2s that are not available to the public on your database. From the history listed it is quite likely that somebody simply put an unrelated bicolor in the box of greens.

[tatiana]

The person I got the F2 seeds from said that the original bi-color beefsteak offtype fruit was found in the large planting of Tennessee Greens.

I started 6 plants this year, only 4 survived, and only one so far produced ripe fruit - this was the chocolate cherry/saladette. I checked the other three plants last night, and only one has fruit set, baby fruits looking like they'll be beefsteaks (unfortunately these may not mature until the end of the season).

I was thinking there were 2 possibilities to start with:

1. the bi-color offtype was a stray plant, and it is a stable bi-color
2. The bicolor offtype was a cross of Tennessee Green with another variety, a mutation, or a result of an instability of TG

I think I can rule out #1 at the moment, as I can see the segregation.

Keith, is it theoretically possible that you can get a bi-color beefsteak when crossing a green beefsteak with a cherry? (so that a black cherry shows up later)

I thought it was really strange to get this type of fruit from a bicolor beefsteak.

tz - there are quite a few articles at TOMATObase about tomatoes that are not available to public. I also have a few de-hybridization projects going, and document the growouts results at TOMATObase - in some cases other folks are helping with the growouts, and TOMATObase offers a nice way of collaborating and sharing the information.

Tatiana

[hillbillypie]

I agree with Mulio. The most logical answer is that you grew seed from something that got pollinated by another tomato. After reading your post on your website it seems to me that the heritage of both the green and the yellow tomato is only speculation. There is no proof that the yellow tomato and the green tomato came from the same plant other than what a farmers market salesperson claimed. In fact I think the proof that the green and the yellow were not the same plant is in this dark fruit.

But what a deal. That looks like a very interesting little tomato. I would grow it out.

By the way, thanks for posting. Very interesting.

[tatiana]

hillbillypie,

The offtype yellow/bi-colored fruit did not came from the same plant - it was picked in the same tomato field where 'Tennessee Green' tomatoes were grown. So it could have been a cross of TG, who knows. Could be a stray plant also.

If something is found in a large field of the same tomato variety, how likely this something be also cross-pollinated by another variety? More likely speculation would be the offtype not being stable, wouldn't it?

Tatiana

[tatiana]

Keith, thank you so much for the list of likely to less likely things that can happen to tomatoes!