The Hidden Truth about a seedless watermelon
The first seedless watermelon was created 50 years ago. Seedless watermelon is grown two ways. The first way is that breeders use genetic tricks to produce them. Usually watermelons are diploid, meaning they have two sets of 11 chromosomes. Seedless watermelon is a triploid because they have 3 sets of chromosomes and are sterile. In order to produce seedless watermelons, a diploid watermelon is pollinated by a tetraploid (4 chromosomes) watermelon. In the process of reproduction, the new watermelon gets one chromosome from the diploid parent and two from the tetraploid which makes it triploid. Since the triploids have three sets, the eggs inside the watermelon are never formed and thus, seeds don’t grow.
The second way to grow seedless watermelon is by using a drug called Colchicine, a chromosome-altering chemical. This US drug is toxic (though people have been using it for the treatment of rheumatism and gout without FDA approval). Colchicine changes the chromosome number in the seeds from 2 to 4. After which, the seeds are pollinated with the natural 2 chromosome watermelon. The product – a genetically modified watermelon with 3 chromosomes.
SO, both processes can be described as genetically modified. The second way to produce seedless watermelon is far more dangerous.
