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The botanical term parthenocarpy refers to the development of the ovary of a flower into a fruit without fertilization. [The biological term parthenogenesisrefers to the development of an egg without fertilization.]

Fruits that develop parthenocarpically are typically seedless. Some seedless fruits come from sterile triploid plants, with three sets of chromosomes rather than two.

The triploid seeds are obtained by crossing a fertile tetraploid (4n) plant with a diploid (2n) plant. When you buy seedless watermelon seeds, you get two kinds of seeds, one for the fertile diploid plant and one for the sterile triploid.

The triploid seeds are larger, and both types of seeds are planted in the same vicinity.
Male flowers of the diploid plant provide the pollen which pollinates (but does not fertilize) the sterile triploid plant.
The act of pollination induces fruit development without fertilization, thus the triploid watermelon fruits develop parthenocarpically and are seedless.

Most bananas purchased at your local supermarket came from sterile triploid hybrids. The fruits developed parthenocarpically and are seedless.

https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/hybrids1.htm

Armstrong, W.P. 1978. "Four Wildflowers Vanishing From Northern San Diego County."

Environment Southwest Number 480: 3-6.
Armstrong, W.P. 1977. "Natural Plant Hybrids in San Diego County." Environment Southwest Number 477: 14-16.

Mirov, N.T. 1967.  The Genus Pinus. Ronald Press Company, New York.

http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0120-55522010000100012

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Chromosomes are the fundamental units that give living things, such as plants and fruits, their distinctive properties. When a Tetraploid plant (which has four sets of chromosomes) is crossed with a Diploid plant (which has the typical two sets of chromosomes), a fruit that produces triploid seeds occurs. This fact was found by watermelon breeders. It does really possess three sets of chromosomes. The triploid seed that results in watermelons without seeds!

In another words, a Seedless watermelon is a sterile hybrid produced when female watermelon flowers with 44 chromosomes per cell and male pollen for a watermelon, which has 22 chromosomes per cell, are crossed. This seeded fruit becomes sterile and unable to produce seeds when it reaches maturity because the tiny, white seed coats inside have 33 chromosomes.

This is comparable to the mule, which was created by breeding a horse and a donkey. And just to be clear, this is not genetic engineering. Crossbreeding involves the offspring of two parents.  Importantly and surprisingly, gardeners frequently plant both seeded and seedless watermelons in their fields because seedless watermelons still require the pollination of their seeded parents.

Source:

https://thefarmersdaughterusa.com/surprisingly-simple-parentage-seedless-watermelon/

https://www.kyfoodandfarm.info/features/2017/9/14/how-do-you-make-a-seedless-watermelon

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Polyploidy is mainly seen in plants and results in larger size; Autopolyploids arise from within a species; Triploids are autopolyploids that produce inviable aneuploid progeny ; Autotetraploids can be generated or spontaneous and can generate gametes to produce viable progeny; allopolyploids are hybrids between two species; Crossing cabbage and radish to produce an amphidiploid that is viable and fertile; Allopolyploids within the Brassica genus and for wheat ; Propagating monoploids by cold treating pollen grains to create embryoids ; Autotriploids like bananas and watermelons generate fruits without seeds; Autotetrapolids generate larger fruits than diploids.

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Chromosomes are thread-like structures in which DNA is tightly packaged within the nucleus. DNA is coiled around proteins called histones, which provide the structural support. Chromosomes help ensure that DNA is replicated and distributed appropriately during cell division.

Nondisjunction occurs when chromosomes do not separate properly during cell division. This produces cells with imbalanced chromosome numbers. Chromosomes contain the cell’s DNA, which is crucial for its functions and reproduction. Normally, when a cell divides, the chromosomes line up in an orderly fashion at the centre of the cell. Then, when the cell divides into two, the chromosomes are separated into each new cell. When these chromosomes fail to separate properly, nondisjunction has occurred. The resulting daughter cells have an incorrect number of chromosomes; one may have too many, while another may have too few. This causes problems in cell function because a cell cannot function normally without the correct chromosome complement.

Fruit development normally begins when one or more egg cells in the ovular compartment of the flower are fertilized by sperm nuclei from pollen. In some plants, however, fruit develops without fertilization, a phenomenon known as parthenocarpy. Parthenocarpic fruit has advantages over seeded fruit: longer shelf life.

The most frequent reasons for lack of seed development are pollination failure, or nonfunctional eggs or sperm. In many plants, self-incompatibility genes limit successful fertilization to cross-pollination between genetically different male and female parents. Because these cultivars are self-incompatible, they fail to set seed when they are planted in orchards of identical plants (clones). These plants have a high frequency of parthenocarpy, however, so they still produce fruit. Such trees do not require seed for propagation. In fact, propagation by seed would be disadvantageous because the progeny would differ from the parent. Instead nurserymen frequently propagate fruit trees asexually, usually by grafting.

Seedless oranges, though, did not come about by deliberate human intervention. Instead, they are the result a random mutation that took place in the 1800s in Brazil.

The reason for seedless oranges is a process known as parthenocarpy. This is a phenomenon that sometimes occurs naturally where fruit develops without the need for fertilization. The way that fruit typically grows is egg cells in the ovular compartment of the flower are fertilized by pollen from another tree.

References:
https://biologydictionary.net/nondisjunction/
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1014514108
https://www.gardenguides.com/12538888-if-navel-oranges-have-no-seeds-how-do-we-grow-more.html

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Successful non-disjunction and application in agriculture- Abduljalil Zakaria

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Successful non-disjunction and application in agriculture- Abduljalil Zakaria

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The development of seedless grapes may actually date back to Roman times, but in modern times the first seedless table grape we can track was developed by William Thompson during the period from 1875 to 1900.

Seedless plants are considered as triploid plants which have three sets of chromosomes, and many desirable characteristics.

Nondisjunction means that a pair of homologous chromosomes has failed to separate or segregate at anaphase so that both chromosomes of the pair pass to the same daughter cell. This probably occurs most commonly in meiosis

Organic or not, all seedless grapes are unnatural. Although a rare mutant plant could be natural, the seedless form is not naturally occurring. The process of growing seedless grapes uses a form of asexual reproduction. The new plant is essentially a genetic clone of the original parent plant which requires manual manipulation with the plants genetic material.

Sources:

GMOs: A look at the seedless grape. Illinois Farm Families. (2022, March 17). Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.watchusgrow.org/2013/09/21/gmos-a-look-at-the-seedless-grape/

Nondisjunction. Nondisjunction - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/nondisjunction

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Chromosomes are a structure found inside the nucleus, it contains the genetic material, chromosomes are made up of proteins and DNA and are organized into genes. Each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.

Non-discunction is the failure of one or more pairs of homologous chromosomes or sister chromatids to separate normally during nuclear division, usually resulting in an abnormal distribution of chromosomes in the daughter nuclei.

In humans the non-disjunction mutation is very harmful and causes conditions like Down syndrome, and Klinefelter's Syndrome, but in plants it can be successful and is applied widely in agriculture.

An example of a succesful non-disjunction are oats, oats have inherited a trait of "dwarfism" which gives them their peculiar shape. The nondisjunction is caused by the rearrangement of the chromosomes and micronuclei derived from the breakage of bridges and retention of acentric fragments in anaphase, respectively. The cause of the chromosome elimination of the oat, its caused by a malfunction in the kinetochores binding to the spindles but the malfunction of the sister chromatids segregation at anaphase especially of the chromosome arm.

Sources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20953694/
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/203963/mn1000_agexpstn_tb_033.pdf?sequence=1

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Chromosomes are a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes that give humans and plants characteristics and traits.

Polyploidy is the heritable condition of possessing more than two complete sets chromosomes. Polyploidy arises as the result of a total nondisjunction of chromosomes during mitosis or meosis. There can advantages to it and disadvantages for example it is harmful for humans but it is helpful for plants. It is considerably aided plant breeding and agriculture improvement.

An example of polyploidy in plants could be illustrated as blue berries, they inherit a total of four complete sets of chromosomes. This process occurs naturally , all blue berry species are polyploid and some have complex polyploidy genome.

Advantages of polyploidy in plants are increasement in plant organs ("gigas" effect), buffering of deleterious mutations, increased heterozygosity, and heterosis (hybrid vigor). Despite having many advantages, polyploidy also poses various disadvantages like variations in the size of the genome in relation to the volume of the cell, Changes in gene expression.

The importance of polyploidy that it has played a significant role in the evolution of higher plants (Leitch and Bennett 1997), having helped in tremendously increasing the number of species and sometimes of genera on the planet Earth. The main features of polyploidy that Polyploid plants possess three or more sets of homologous, homologous means similar chromosomes.

The increase in chromosome number in these plants is the result of a genome duplication event. An important factor that the more chromosomes are present the larger the blue berry is, larger blue berries perform and function better than blue berries of smaller size because they produce more.

sources :
The polyploidy and its key role in plant breeding - PubMed (nih.gov)

Polyploidy: Definition, Types, Mechanism, Advantages - Embibe

The advantages and disadvantages of being polyploid - Dimensions

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Polyploidy is a term that refers to an organism that’s has more than two sets of chromosomes. Polyploidy has the same meaning as non-disjunction, non disjunction can be an advantage and disadvantage depending on the goals.

An example of a polyploidy in crops is wheat, after many years of hybridization and human modifications, wheat has strains that are diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid, these are defined as ploidy, and tell us how many complete sets of chromosomes are present.

An advantage of polyploidy wheat is lowering the amount of glute present in the crop, people with celiac disease cannot eat wheat, so by lowering the gluten content in wheat using non-disjunction in genetics, people with celiac disease can consume it.

Sources:
https://www2.nau.edu/~gaud/bio301/content/plpl.htm

https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/cells/cells-11-02389/article_deploy/cells-11-02389.pdf?version=1659522153

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Some plants are polyploids. Polyploidy is the presence of multiple sets of chromosomes. This influences many factors and has effects on the plant. One example is blackberries. A blackberry is a tetraploid, which means it has 4 sets of chromosomes. Polyploids arise when nondisjunction of chromosomes occurs during meiosis. This process can happen naturally and also be induced by plant breeders. Polyploids differ from diploids in many aspects, for example: the stomata in polyploid plants are usually much larger than in diploids. There are many benefits plant breeders see in induced polyploidy, such as:
- It is an efficient, rapid breeding technique to produce healthy plants.
- Tetraploids can be used as parental material to produce seedless triploids.
- Triploids produced can hold better quality and environmental adaptation.
- Polyploids hold many health benefits (e.g: 95% increase of anticancer chemical compounds in Acorus calamus)

Blackberries are considered superfruits by scientists due to the high amount of health benefits they hold. They are known to reduce the incidence of obesity, coronary heart disease, degenerative diseases, and various forms of cancer.
Polyploidy naturally occurs in the genus Rubus of blackberries. They are also induced by plant breeders. This causes changes in the petal shapes of the flower of the plant, and affects the flowering and fruiting phase too. Increasing the number of chromosomes in diploid blackberries increases the flower and fruit size, as well as affects the morphology of the flower and fruit. The more chromosomes there are, the larger the fruit is. The larger blackberry plants also perform better in terms of flowers and seeds than the smaller ones, since they produce more compared to the diploids. Polyploidy in blackberries also helped produce an enhanced leaf greenness index.

Source:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.938284/full

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Chromosomes are the building blocks that give characteristics, or traits, to living things including plants and watermelons. Watermelon breeders discovered that crossing a diploid plant (bearing the standard two sets of chromosomes) with a tetraploid plant (having four sets of chromosomes) results in a fruit that produces a triploid seed. (Yes, it has three sets of chromosomes.) This triploid seed is the seed that produces seedless watermelons. In other words, a seedless watermelon is a sterile hybrid which is created by crossing male pollen for a watermelon, containing 22 chromosomes per cell, with a female watermelon flower with 44 chromosomes per cell. When this seeded fruit matures, the small, white seed coats inside contain 33 chromosomes, rendering it sterile and incapable of producing seeds. This is similar to the mule, produced by crossing a horse with a donkey – simple cross-breeding. And to be clear on the subject, this is not genetic modification. Cross-breeding involves two parents and their offspring. Seedless watermelons still need to be pollinated by their seeded parent, so oftentimes growers will plant seeded and seedless in their field.

Source: Board, W. (2020, February 26). Where does seedless watermelon come from? Watermelon Board. https://www.watermelon.org/the-slice/where-does-seedless-watermelon-come-from/

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Since strawberries have eight copies of each type of chromosome, they produce the most DNA of any fruit. The data necessary for the chemistry of life to function is stored in the long, dense Fibers of DNA. Every cell in plants and animals contains DNA. Using basic, everyday materials, it is possible to extract the DNA from strawberry cells. The strawberries will be divided using a buffer solution. Protein chains that bind to the nucleic acids will be broken apart by the salt in the solution. The nuclear membrane and lipid portion of the strawberry cell wall will dissolve due to the soap in the solution.
Every gene has a DNA coding that instructs the cell on how to produce a certain protein. These proteins serve as the building blocks of life's structural system. Scientific advancements have made genetic engineering conceivable. In this procedure, scientists insert the genetic code necessary to produce a particular protein into the DNA of a cell. The cell will produce the protein that has an impact on a specific protein The majority of species, including humans, are diploid, with two copies of the genome—one from each parent—whereas strawberries are octoploid, with eight complete copies of the genome that were provided by numerous, different parental species. In a recent study published in Nature Genetics, researchers describe how the strawberry became an octoploid as well as the genetics that govern significant fruit quality factors.

source:
https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2019/uncovering-the-origins-of-the-cultivated-strawberry#:~:text=Whereas%20most%20species%2C%20including%20humans,by%20multiple%2C%20distinct%20parental%20species.

https://doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/2010/lesson_plans/life_sci/ecosystems/sess_LifeSci-12ae.pdf

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The daughter cells formed at the end of the cell cycle should have the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell. For example, in humans, each parent cell starts with 46 chromosomes. Each chromosome replicates during interphase so that during anaphase, when the chromosome copies separate and move toward opposite poles, each of the new nuclei will have the correct number (46). However, sometimes this separation does not occur as planned. Failures during mitosis or cytokinesis potentially cause the formation of cells with an abnormal chromosome number. Cells may have more or fewer chromosomes than the usual for that organism. Cells with abnormal chromosome numbers are often unstable and are usually removed from the population by apoptosis. When cells are damaged during prometaphase and metaphase, they will eventually leave mitosis. Cells leaving mitosis at this point do so because of a degradation of various cyclins. When failures occur during cytokinesis, the resulting daughter cells will have the incorrect number of chromosomes. One would have too many, and the other would have too few. Having abnormal numbers of chromosomes at a certain point during the cell cycle usually results in the failure of mitosis or cytokinesis.
SORCE
https://www.coursehero.com/sg/cell-biology/errors-in-cell-division/

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In triploid watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), the homologous chromosomes of germ cells are disorder during meiosis, resulting in the failure of seeds formation and producing seedless fruit. Mutating the genes specifically functioning in meiosis may be an alternative way to achieve seedless watermelon. In situ hybridization analysis showed that ClREC8 was highly expressed at the early stage of meiosis during pollen formation. Knocking out ClREC8 in watermelon led to decline of pollen vitality. After pollinating with foreign normal pollen, the ovaries of knockout lines could inflate normally but failed to form seeds. Loss-of-function also led to seedless fruit, which may provide an alternative strategy to breed cultivars with seedless watermelon.

Source:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362274706_Disruption_of_REC8_in_Meiosis_I_led_to_watermelon_seedless