Plant genetics, pods and disease

[Ohjay]

Time to get the learning hat on 
 
As some of you might have seen, and remember, I asked for some help a while back with a couple of plants that showed signs of some kind of disease.
They were diagnosed with BLS and I've been researching and reading up on it.
 
From what I've gathered BLS is a genetic disease. Once you get it you can't get rid of it but you can, to some extent, control it.
In my case I'm fairly sure that the seeds I planted had BLS genetics and that the plants started showing symptoms when the conditions favoured BLS(moisture & heat, lack of airflow).
 
Anyway, I'm curious as to how this would affect pollen, pods and next gen plants and would love to learn more about this stuff.
Basically, if I use pollen from a BLS-affected plant on a healthy plant, is there a chance that the disease is carried over in the seeds from chilis on this plant(I assume yes)?
Will a plant "know" that the pollen is bad and drop a flower that's been pollinated with "bad" pollen?
How does BLS affect pods? Is there a chance for me to get pods on a BLS-affected plant and will they be edible?
Since you can't see genetic changes in a plant until you plant the seeds from this years grow, am I to assume that a pod grown on a healthy plant, but pollinated with "bad" pollen, will be edible?

 

[jsschrstrcks]

So think of the plants genetics like this:

---------------------------
Now add a genetic anomaly (or disease).
---------+----------------
Now the plant polinates it self, seed harvested, stored, started the following year. Its genetic code would look like:
---------+----------------
Its offspring's genetic code, again assuming self polinization, would look like this:
---------+----------------

Breed it to a healthy variety:
Some would be: ---------+----------------
Some would be: ---------------------------

In the end, its probably better to buy new seeds.

 

[cruzzfish]

BLS doesn't seem to be genetic. It does like to stick around, but I've managed to completely get rid of it multiple times for different plants. The only repeat occurrence was a scotch bonnet, and that was because of aphids. Treating it really isn't that bad once you get the hang of it. There shouldn't be any bacteria in the pollen because a plant sick enough to have bacteria in the flowers is most likely in no condition to be flowering. That being said, a genetic disease is something else entirely, and I would buy new seeds if I thought I had one. 
 
The plants that you had begin to exhibit it when conditions became bad was most likely because BLS bacteria are actually very common, but can't become an issue without good conditions. Also, infected plants that are in good enough condition to fruit will probably have bacteria on the seed itself, and young plants can become infected by touching the seed coat. That being said, without good conditions the bacteria will die out fairly quickly, within a few weeks or so.

 

[Ohjay]

Thank you both for the replies.
 
It's purely for educational purposes that I ask. I have no intention of saving seeds of the affected plants or those accidentally pollinated by pollen from BLS-affected plants.
 
Any opinions/knowledge on BLS affecting pods(not seeds)?
 
 
cruzzfish, I've had no success with treating my BLS so far. I tried reducing the watering and heat and added some airflow(it's an indoor grow). But I still get some BLS. The plants seem to grow somewhat fine with new growth and flowers(no pods yet tho), but some leaves start showing signs of BLS when reaching a bigger size.
Some research I read stated that you can't cure BLS, you can treat it, but you can't cure it.

 

[jsschrstrcks]

BLS doesn't seem to be genetic. It does like to stick around, but I've managed to completely get rid of it multiple times for different plants. The only repeat occurrence was a scotch bonnet, and that was because of aphids. Treating it really isn't that bad once you get the hang of it. There shouldn't be any bacteria in the pollen because a plant sick enough to have bacteria in the flowers is most likely in no condition to be flowering. That being said, a genetic disease is something else entirely, and I would buy new seeds if I thought I had one. 
 
The plants that you had begin to exhibit it when conditions became bad was most likely because BLS bacteria are actually very common, but can't become an issue without good conditions. Also, infected plants that are in good enough condition to fruit will probably have bacteria on the seed itself, and young plants can become infected by touching the seed coat. That being said, without good conditions the bacteria will die out fairly quickly, within a few weeks or so.

Fortunately I don't have much experience with BLS to know if its genetic or no off hand. But after cruzzfish's post I started thinking, and it occured to me that BLS is Bacterial Leaf Spot. So its definitely not genetic, its bacterial. Which is probably worse.

 

[cruzzfish]

Fortunately I don't have much experience with BLS to know if its genetic or no off hand. But after cruzzfish's post I started thinking, and it occured to me that BLS is Bacterial Leaf Spot. So its definitely not genetic, its bacterial. Which is probably worse.

No, it isn't. Bacteria can be treated.