WEBVTT - How can there be seedless grapes?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>where smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question,

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<v Speaker 1>how can there be seedless grapes and how do they reproduce?

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<v Speaker 1>If you go to a grocery store today and buy grapes,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a good chance that the only type of grape

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<v Speaker 1>you can buy is seedless Thompson seedless white grapes, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>don't have any seeds in them. Nearly all grape vines

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<v Speaker 1>in production today produce seedless grapes. It turns out that

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<v Speaker 1>most fruits today do not come from seeds. They come

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<v Speaker 1>from cuttings instead. In the case of seedless grapes, a

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<v Speaker 1>piece of vine is cut off, dipped in rooting hormone,

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<v Speaker 1>and then placed in moist dirt, so the roots and

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<v Speaker 1>leaves form. Because they come from cuttings, new grape vines

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<v Speaker 1>are essentially clones of the vine that they were cut from.

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<v Speaker 1>Seedless grapes actually do contain seeds at some point, but

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<v Speaker 1>a genetic error prevents those seeds from forming a hard

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<v Speaker 1>outer coat like normal seeds do, so any seeds that

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<v Speaker 1>do form are just tiny dots inside the fruit, and

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<v Speaker 1>you don't even know they're there. Someone discovered a plant

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<v Speaker 1>with this genetic defect and started reproducing it through cut ins.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's seedless grapes are all descendants from that original error.

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