Maize Kernel Variegation: 2D Transposon Lineage Map

Barbara McClintock discovered transposable elements — "jumping genes" — by reading the spotted, streaky patterns on maize kernels as a developmental record. This 2D simulator rebuilds that record from first principles: a colorless founder cell divides through a controllable number of mitoses, and at every division each still-colorless lineage has an independent chance to have its Ds element excise from the C1 pigment gene, permanently switching that entire branch of descendants to purple. Three synchronized panels show the same stochastic lineage tree from different angles — a rotatable polar cross-section of the kernel, the raw unwrapped (u,v) lineage map, and a generation-by-generation ladder — so you can trace exactly how one random excision event becomes a visible sector. Toggle Ac off to reproduce the classic no-transposase control (a solid colorless kernel), tune the excision rate and division count, and watch how early jumps paint large color blocks while late jumps paint fine speckling — live readouts track pigmented fraction, sector count and average sector size as the kernel grows.