Pinot gris is a chimera

Mike, This is mind boggling if true: the genome of the skin tissue is DIFFERENT from that of the flesh. That implies that either a mutation takes place during the development of the grape, or that the skin and the flesh are derived from two different germ lines. Neither explanation makes much sense to me...

Mark Lipton

BTW, Googling for the phrase "natural tissue chimera" turned up nothing.

I'm not even remotely an expert in this field (my initial exposure to the subject was an episode of CSI last year), but I did a brief bit of web-research then, for what it's worth. I was left with the impression that a chimera is the result of a mutation or aberration in development; so I too am quite surprised to find an example of something that reliably reproduces as a chimera.

I'd think that the seeds would contain one genome or another.

Dana

Incidentally, I have heard that trees are often colonies of individuals with different genetic codes. I never knew it could happen within a fruit !

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Mark Lipt>

There was an episode of CSI recently where this phenomenon, although in a _human_, was central to the story. The killer's DNA from a mouth swab was different from the DNA in his blood (which was the same as found at the crime scene). It stumped Grissom for a while, but he eventually figured it out.

I wasn't sure this was a real phenomenon, but a Copernic search on chimera+DNA turned up this link:

It gets even weirder with this one:

Tom S

They very well may, but grapevines are not replicated from seeds - at least not in viticulture. They are cloned from cuttings. This is true of many cultivated species for that matter (e.g. apples and roses) when genetic diversity is _not_ desired.

Tom S

Right - I understand. However, I was thinking of how such a mutation would occur and propagate in nature.

Dana

Right. But vines are propagated asexually, so a mutation can be reproduced indefinitely. I think. I don't know much about the subject either and I don't watch CSI, so you may have the advantage.

For french readers, a more complete article straight from INRA

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link