Odd pigment on a citron

[schmiggle]

I wish I had thought to take pictures of this plant, but I decided to pull it up and didn't take any...I have been growing citrons from seed for probably two months now. Out of 8 seeds, five germinated, but one had very odd leaves. They were crinkled, had rough edges/an abnormal and irregular outline, partly pigment-less, small, and seemed to tear easily. The plant itself was significantly smaller than the others, but I suspect that that was essentially starvation--with tiny leaves, half of each of which is unable to photosynthesize, the plant was slowly starving to death (which is why I decided to pull it up after I saw that its new leaves had the same problem as the old ones). I suspect this is a genetic disease--does anyone know anything about it?

 

[schmiggle]

After doing a bit of proper research, I think maybe it's caused by chimerism...

 

[Ranitomeya]

Variegation/pigment loss can also be a sign of viral infection.

 

[schmiggle]

The only reason I didn't think it was a virus is that there was a total lack of pigment in the affected areas, but you could be right. If it was a virus, might it still be in the soil?

 

[Draketeeth]

When I worked at a greenhouse my job that season was to help plant pine trees of various types, then a few months later we went through everything and thinned out the weakest seedlings. "Albino" and partial albino seedlings showed up across pretty much all species. The staff always figured it was some mis-combination of genetics that caused it since all the seeds got the same treatment and
Soil.