Cureus | Picture Prognosis

Cureus | Picture Prognosis

Viviparous Capsicum fruitescens

There are only a few ripe, red-coloured Capsicum fruitescens plant varieties that exhibit a devoloping embryo inside its fruit.  this condition is called 'Genetic-vivipary', which means development of the embryo inside the ripe fruit, as also detected in mangrove plants such as Rhizophora, Avicennia spps of saline marhses.  The DNA blueprint  copy of viviparous-embryo-gene of the genus capsicum fruitescens fused or spliced to bring together a salt_tolerant gene copy from a mangrove plant, for instance-Avicennia sps by genetic engineering creates an appropriate transgenic Capsicum fruitescens which encodes and expresses the salt-tolerant protein attached to the heavy_metal (Cadmium, chromium, mercury, arsenic etc.. widely applied as super_phoshatic fertilizers , untreated effluents from tanneries releasing Chromium (III) into fertile soils, or phenyl_mercuric acetate used as herbicide and paris -Green commercially applied as the herbicide containing copper-aceto-arsenate) contaminated soils. So far, transgenic rice crops have been engineered to confer salt-tolerance combining the enrichmeent of essential amino acids and vitamin B6 in the storage proteins.

                                                It is worthwhile to produce  related transgenic plants  to the Capsicum fruitescens family, viz; Solanum tuberosum-potato, solanum esculentum-tomato, Solanum melongena-brinjal vegetable crops. Protoplast fusion is another technique by which one of a  copiy of viviparous-genome can be spliced to a heavy metal, and a salt tolerant copy of an incoming DNA in a single attachment of a Cybrid transgenic plant.
Among the seed plants also called Embryophytes reported so far in literature there are only a few varieties of red colored ripened Capscicum fruitescens in which an embryo develop es somatically inside the fruit. AN Important aspect to note, is that such conditions is capable of a totiotent cell becoming the diploid sporophyte. The condition is termed Genetic Vvipary in seed plants.

Murashiga & Skoog grew a callus tissue from carrot rootlet haircells on a selective nutrient semisolid agar medium which even today is used in tissue culture of embrios. The callus tissue developed into a full fledged carrot plant. From a few cells of the callus tissue from capsicum fruitscens  grown in MS medium for a few weeks was found to have totipotency which also means that every cell in the tissue culture is capable of giving rise to a new capscicum sporophyte. Transgenic Capscicum fruitescens viviparous embryo gene has been spliced or pieced together with a salt tolerant gene from a mangrove plant,eg, Rhizophora mangele growing in salt marshs. These sporophytes were transplanted into soil with heavy metal contimination. It is known that seed plants tolerate sublethal heavy metal concentration for eg.: lead which is used n paints, Mercury used in fungicide as Phenyl Mercuruc acetate, Arsenic occuring in Paris Green having Copper aceto Arsenate ndiscriminately applied to fertile soils in modern agriculture. Tannery Waste contains high doses of chromiuim Salts, however it has been found that transgenic Capscicum fruitescens withstand high salinity and heavy metal soils by mechanisms not fully understood.

In some laboratories the ingenious meathods of prolonging the shelf life of tomatos has been performed genetically by switching off the enzyme Polygalact uronase and prolonging the fruits to remain green on the vines. The PG genes has been switched off by a mirror image of its own in the transgenic plant. Therefore, fruits need not be plucked from the vines any longer when it is green. The shelf life is thus prolonged which is a marketable value.


Current Science  issue of Aug 2000 reports that the world's hottest chilli pepers known as BHUT JOLOKIA vareity of Caoscicum fruitescens Var. Nagahari in North East India to have the Guiness Book of World record for the hottest chilli. This rating is known by SCOVILLE heat units developed at Defence Research and Development Gwalior India. This report is the  Guinees bookworld  record holder of the largest viviparous Embryo known to a botanist from Gopalapuram Chennai TN of the Capsicum fruitescens variety.. The email contacts can be made to obtain a JPEG. image of the vivparous embryo inside the ripe Capsicum fruitescens variety in the report  upon request.


The germ Plasm collection of this variety can be used for multiple propogation in high saline soil as well as heavy metal soil conditions.


The present record holder of the largest Viviparous Embryo is to be yet superceded. The Red Savania hot chilli pepper holds the previous Guiness Book of World Record for hot Scoville scale units of hottness (Some Like it Hot, Some like it Hotter Robert Kienes, Reader's Digest, April 2008, Page 90-96..

Thanking you
M.L.Arun Kumar
New no24, Old 9, second street,
Gopalapuram_60 0086. telephone:0 44 28113736.