Flava, a Chlorophyll Deficient Mutant in Muskmelon

Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 9:67 (article 20) 1986

M. Pitrat, C. Ferriere and M. Ricard
INRA, Station d’Amelioration des Plantes Maraicheres, 84140 Montfavet, France

A spontaneous yellow mutant appeared in ‘K 2005’, a muskmelon line from China supplied by M. HEDDE (Caillard Seeds Company, Sarrians, France). From the original seed stock, three plants were selfed to maintain the line and in one inbred progeny appeared yellow plantlets. One of these plants was selfed and crossed with normal green ‘Charentais’. The selfed progeny of the yellow plant was uniformly yellow. The F1 was green and he F2 segregates 237 green : 75 yellow close to a 3:1 expected ratio (X2 = 0.154 ; Prob. = 69%) for a single recessive gene. Allelism test must be made with yellow green (yg) marker (1) but the phenotypes of the two mutants are quite different. Growth rate is reduced and the yellow color is more dull and dark than yellow green.

We propose the name flava and the symbol f for this mutant.

Literature cited

  1. Whitaker, T.W. 1952. Genetic and chlorophyll studies of a yellow-green mutant in muskmelon. Plant Physiology 27:263-268.