PAPAYA PLANTS HAVING A MUTANT ALLELE FOR HERMAPHRODITISM

[0218] Papaya plants containing mutant allele EWSMHP, which confers production of highly hermaphroditic progenies upon selfing of its hermaphrodite plants and also production of highly hermaphroditic F1 progenies when crossed with normal female and normal hermaphrodite papaya plants, are disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of papaya plants having mutant allele EWSMHP, to the plants and plant parts of papaya plants having mutant allele EWSMHP and to methods for producing progeny of papaya plants having mutant allele EWSMHP. The invention also relates to methods for producing a papaya plant having mutant allele EWSMHP containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic papaya plants and plant parts produced by those methods. The invention also relates to papaya cultivars or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from papaya plants having mutant allele EWSMHP. The invention further relates to hybrid papaya seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing a plant having mutant allele EWSMHP with another papaya cultivar.