aurea x aurea, or aurea x self

[Jeff214]

My background is in biochemistry of bacterial systems, not in plants. Enzymes function the same way more or less across domains of life but genetics are another beast. So please do take what I say with a grain of salt.

It could be related to how gene expression (use) is regulated. Just because a plant has a functional copy of a gene in its DNA, doesn't mean that it will be used (all the time). For example, certain genes used for self-defense (toxins against pathogens or pests) might be used only after the plant detects infection. Pigment production can be tied to other aspects of plant growth/defense/maintenance. It could be that a certain growth stage could 'trigger' pigment production and that 'trigger' is failing to work properly. That could lead to a more or less permanently pigment less plant. I don't know much about plant genetics so I will leave it at that.

---(deep dive)-------------------
I worked with Streptomyces bacteria, which have a complex life cycle that switches between mycelia (string-growth fungus like) and spores (hibernating). Pigment and antibiotic production are often associated with the transition state between mycelia and spores. It's been suggested that bacteria produce pigments (can have antioxidant properties) and antibiotics to help reduce stress while going through major changes in the cell. (think of a caterpillar undergoing metamorphosis. Nice to have things that can kill off predators while you're busy changing your entire body...) It has been shown that a particular gene regulates use of some pigments, antibiotics, and genes needed to transition into spores. When that particular gene is not functional, that bacteria loses the ability to make that pigment, antibiotic, and turn into spores. When you add a functional copy of that regulator gene back in, all three aspects return. Therefore, even if you have a functional copy of a pigment gene in that bacterium, you may never see it used if the regulator isn't working (or if it only works under very specific conditions).
---(end of deep dive)----------------------------------------


Sorry, I really didn't mean to take this too far away from the original conversation! I just wanted to interject how it's important to know the genetic make up and how those genes are regulated to fully understand how traits are observed.


In the end, noone has the money to do these studies on a hobby plant. An aurea x aurea or aurea x selfing has a possibility of producing an aurea plant but there's no guarantee. I assume, over a few generations of selective breeding, the chance would be greater!