How is a hybrid fruit created? & how are differnt kinds of berries combined to create one new variety?

Question

Any ideas ? Also why can't apples, oranges and bananas all be combined to create some new kind of fruit ?

Answer 1

1) Some plants can be directly crossed with closely related species. In other cases different “varieties” (sometimes called ecotypes) of the same species can be crossed with the intent of breeding offspring with desirable qualities from both parent varieties.

2) Protoplast Fusion to create Somatic Cell Hybrids. Cultured plant cells are treated with enzymes that remove the cell wall leaving the plasma membrane intact. Cells from different species are then mixed together and their membranes induced to fuse (by the addition of chemicals like polyethylene glycol or the application of an electrical current). You then culture the fused cells into a whole plant (I am obviously simplifying the process here). This has produced some successful hybrids such as Triticale, a wheat-rye hybrid. Sometimes things don’t do as planned: Someone once tried to fuse a radish with a cabbage. The thought was to develop a hybrid with the above ground structure of a cabbage, with the root of the radish. What they got was the roots of the cabbage and the leaves of a radish, which was a dismal failure.

When using this technique you can’t predict the outcome. You must also carefully consider the genetics, specifically the number of chromosomes. Chromosomes MUST pair at meiosis and crossover (otherwise the plant will be sterile)! This pairing is based on sequence homology. If the species you are crossing are too closely related, your chromosomes might miss-match and the chromosomes will not properly divide at anaphase.

Why not the apple-orange-banana wonder fruit? Likely many reasons:

1) Difficulty in combining 3 species.

2) Bananas are already sterile due to cross in the past.

3) These fruits grow in different climates, so the offspring of th effusion may have growth and adaptation problems.

4) I suspect that your fruity creation may not be universally popular with consumers :)

For more info go:

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/hybrids1.h...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_%28b...