Several luteus (l) and albino (w) genes closely linked to y are carried in the Coop as Y +/y l and Y +/y w.

If normal progeny from the yellow seeds of one stock are crossed with normal progeny from the yellow seeds of the other stock, crosses between Y y heterozygotes in both will give ears segregating for Y and y. The y seeds will be y l +/y + w, a balanced lethal. Progeny from crosses between them and a normal will be heterozygous for either l or w, with few exceptions.

To establish the crossover Y + +/y l10 w15, one such balanced lethal was crossed with a Y Y stock. The plants were selfed, the Y and y seeds on each ear were planted. Most segregated 3 green: 1 yellow or 3 green: 1 white. The desired crossover segregated green:white plus a few yellow seedlings. The combination, l w, is a white seedling, but a crossover that separates them is a yellow seedling. To identify these ears, the linkage was so close that 75 or more seeds per ear were tested. If the ancestry of such a stock were not known, the rare yellow seedlings would be difficult to explain. 

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