Biotech Updates

Larger Apples Develop When Cells Don't Divide According to Study

July 2, 2010

Purdue University professor Peter Hirst discovered some apples from Gala apple trees which are much bigger and heavier than the others because the cells in those apples do not split apart. This new variety called Grand Gala is about 38 percent heavier and 15 percent larger than the diameter of regular Gala apples.

Hirst found out that the Grand Gala had almost equal number of cells with the regular Gala, however the cells of the Grand Gala are larger. He explained that this phenomenon is called endoreduplication, wherein the cells in the Grand Gala replicate their DNA, but do not divide. Instead, the cells become larger, add more copies of their DNA, and continue growing. There are a number  of genes that may be responsible for the phenomenon, but it is uncertain if those genes could be used to increase the size of other apples.

Read the press release at http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2010/100630HirstGala.html for more details.