Parker's flint contains orp1

--Allen D. Wright

The orange pericarp phenotype requires the duplicate homozygous recessive loci orp1 and orp2. A cross was made of Parker's flint by a pollen source heterozygous orp1 and su (in repulsion) and homozygous orp2. Approximately 50% of the selfs of this progeny segregated 3 normal to 1 orange, instead of the expected 15:1 segregation, indicating that Parker's flint contained one of the orp genes. The other selfs did not segregate for orange pericarp, but segregated for sugary kernels, indicating that the orp gene in Parker's flint is orp1.

We had previously determined that orp1 was present in the original stock that was mutagenized to produce orange pericarp. Longfellow Flint was one of the lines used to produce this stock. The testing of several lines for orp1 is currently underway. Appropriate tester material will be provided to anyone interested.

Whether the presence of orp1 has adaptive significance for Parker's Flint and related Northern Flints, or is simply something that it can live with is not at present clear.

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