Homeotic mutant ???Phal Baldans Kalaidescope

[dgenovese1]

Hi Orchidbingo,
Peloricism (if that's a word) is very common with this cross, and it may not even be evident with the first or even second and third flowering of the plant. I'm not sure what causes it other than genetics?

I do know that once it becomes evident, the plant will always bloom peloric. That's all I know about it...at least for now.

[orchidbingo]

Originally Posted by gixrj18

I, too, have a peloric Baldan's Kaleidoscope. It's not as extreme as yours, but here's some pics.
Attachment 33758Attachment 33759Attachment 33760

I think your Baldans Kalaidescope peloric is beautiful!
Nice plant too.

orchidbingo

[orchidbingo]

Originally Posted by dgenovese1

Hi Orchidbingo,
Peloricism (if that's a word) is very common with this cross, and it may not even be evident with the first or even second and third flowering of the plant. I'm not sure what causes it other than genetics?

I do know that once it becomes evident, the plant will always bloom peloric. That's all I know about it...at least for now.

Thanks David.

I just finished reading the articles that the king of orchid growing linked me to.

Pelorics are indeed homeotic mutations! The reason this is so exciting is that I've done work on homeotics in fruitflies, Drosophila melanogaster ,and it is a natural progression to do more work on homeotics mutants -- this time on orchids! Therefore I think that I could write a grant proposal to continue my research on homeotic mutants and peloricism (the word you coined)
If I could get such a grant I could shoo all the flies out of my lab and start growing oncidium intergenerics... to my hearts content.

Possible grant title... The role of gene duplication in the evolution of peloricism in the Orchidaceae: An evolutionary survey of oncidium intergenerics purchased from websites of orchid nurseries.

Hey, I've gotta find a way to finance my renewed addiction.

As you say "there IS ALWAYS room for one more orchid"


orchidbingo

[Andrew]

Hi Orchidbingo,

Something to bear in mind with peloricism is that while many peloric orchids are stable, a lot will "lose" their peloricism and in many cases the trait is often attributed to tissue culture hormones rather than a "stable mutation". What is interesting about the hormone argument is that these hormones apparently have an effect for several years out of flask until one day the plant decides to flower normally and never turns back. Even amongst those "mutations" that are stable within the plant, often this is not a heritable trait and you will get cases where a stable peloric will not maintain the trait when tissue cultured. Orchid enthusiasts will often talk about stable mutations, unstable mutations, somatic mutations and any other jargon they can pin on an aberrant orchid whether appropriate or not.

However, the Chen et al Cell Research (2005) 15, 639–657 article that King of Orchid Growing mentioned brings something (that I find) of interest to the debate. Okay, so a whole bunch of growth regulator and patterning genes are upregulated. What do you expect in a flower that shows abnormal growth and patterning? What sparks my interest is the shut down of methylation genes in peloric flowers. If peloricism can have an epigenetic basis, a lot of the quirks regarding the loss and gain of peloricism start to make a lot more sense.

[Sandy4453]

Outstanding, really! Love Baldan's Kaleidoscope, have several, some peloric but not as interesting as this one. I have one similar to yours, a NoID and I'm almost tempted to say that these are off the peloric chart and in a class by themselves? . Here's my mutant....

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by orchidbingo

If I could get such a grant I could shoo all the flies out of my lab and start growing oncidium intergenerics... to my hearts content.

It could be a little difficult to transfer an Onc between vials with an aspirator, though.

[snow]

although my baldans kaleidoscope is quite normal; except that the leaves are very short, thick and heavy looking. allmost like a succulent. would this also be some type of mutation?

[orchidbingo]

Originally Posted by Andrew

It could be a little difficult to transfer an Onc between vials with an aspirator, though.

That's really funny, Andrew. I'll be very careful.

Bingo