The Grafting Relations of Wilty Dwarf, a New Tomato Mutant

Abstract

Wilty dwarf is a new tomato character that is determined by a single recessive gene, wd. It differs from normal (+) in the following features: erect dwarf habit (fewer and shorter internodes), smaller leaves, thinner stems, blue-gray leaf color, and tendency of foliage to droop under field conditions in summer. Although fruitfulness is somewhat subnormal, flowers will set fruits with abundant seeds if artificially self-pollinated. The normal stock used for grafting is a pure line derived from a haploid of the same variety and apparently differs from the mutant only in having the + allele of wd. Homozygous lines of wd and + were grafted in all possible combinations. Whereas the control grafts wd/wd and +/+ retained their phenotype without modification, scion stem diameter and leaf length of the reciprocal grafts of wd and + were shifted markedly toward the dimensions of the stocks. These modifications were so great that stems and leaves of scions of wd/+ had approximately the same dimensions as those of +/...