Silly Question

[Mervin]

Please excuse me for my ignorance as I am very new to orchids.

What is a tetraploid 4N plant ?

Thank you.

Cheers

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

First off, let me start by saying that this is not a "silly question", the answer to this question is actually not common knowledge. Unless you are a geneticist or a student of genetics; or remembered what you learned in biology or botany, you won't know the answer to this question.

The explanation goes like this:

Ploidy is the number of chromosome sets in a cell.

Haploid (symbolized as 1N or simply just N) is a cell with one set of chromosomes.

Flowering plants (aka angiosperms) are normally diploid (2N - 2 sets of homologous chromosomes).

Here is a wiki on "homologous chromosomes":

Homologous chromosome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4N (tetraploid - 4 sets of homologous chromosomes) plants are genetically altered when they were cloned or micropropagated from seed with special chemicals.

Here's a wiki on "ploidy":

Ploidy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Jennyfleur]

Totally agree, it wasn't a stupid question. Thanks King, I've learnt something today as well

[WhiteRabbit]

Mervin - thanks for asking - I didn't know what it is either

and thank you King for explaining!

[beanluc]

With regard to orchid hybrids, the reason you might see "4N tetraploid" on a vendor's website is that a hybrid which was produced without the polyploidy getting introduced is sort of a normal plant, but it's commonly believed that if the same hybrid is created and the polyploidy DOES get introduced, that having multiple sets of chromosomes tends to yield plants with greater size, resilience and vigor.

I don't know how true it is, and whether someone would care to "pay extra" for the "extra chromosomes", but that's why it's always in the marketing materials XD

[Mervin]

Just learn something new today !

Thank you king for the explanation and links.

Cheers