Genetic instability in somatic hybrids of Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana knightiana

Summary Somatic hybrids of Nicotiana knightiana (2n=2X=24) and an albino mutant of Nicotiana tabacum (2n=4X=48) were selected after polyethylene glycol induced protoplast fusion. Three lines were selected on the basis of the simultaneous expression of shoot inducibility and green pigmentation, traits originally separated in the parental species.The hybrid nature of the lines was confirmed by their characteristic isoenzyme patterns, the morphology of the regenerated plants, and by the appearance of heterochromatic blocks in the interphase nuclei.Chromosome numbers in the somatic hybrids varied greatly within individual plants. Variegation in leaf and flower colour and segregation for morphological traits in vegetatively multiplied plants are attributed to segregation of chromosomes in the somatic cells, a consequence of the numerical instability. Hybridity, caryotypic changes induced by tissue culture, and high chromosome numbers, are discussed as possible reasons for the observed genetic instability.     

人工合成甘蓝型油菜中花色与芥酸含量的遗传连锁分析

利用人工合成的甘蓝型油菜品系．No．2127-17(白花、有芥酸)与加拿大双低甘蓝型油菜品种Quantum(黄花、低芥酸)配制杂交组合。对亲本、F1、BC1、F2和DH(doubled haploid)5个世代的花色及芥酸含量进行分析,结果表明：花色受单基因控制,且白花对黄花为显性;芥酸含量仅表现出一对基因的差异且具有加性效应的遗传模式。花色和芥酸含量的连锁分析表明：白花与高芥酸紧密连锁．在DH群体中重组频率为5．8％。采用集团分离分析法(Bulked Segregant Analysis,BSA),从685条10个碱基的随机引物筛选到一个与黄花和低芥酸含量紧密连锁的RAPD标记S92-1400。在遗传图谱上黄花基因和低芥酸基因距离S92-1400标记的图距分别为2．2cM和5．4cM。     

Application of in vitro techniques in mutation breeding of chrysanthemum

Rooted cuttings of Chrysanthemum morifolium cv. Maghi, a small flowered, late blooming cultivar, were treated with different doses of gamma rays. Somatic mutations in flower colour (light mauve, white, light yellow and dark yellow) and chlorophyll variegation in leaves were detected as chimeras in treated populations. Attempts were made to standardize a microtechnique for plant regeneration from mutated tissues of stem node, stem internode, shoot tip and ray floret. All these explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog's medium with 3% sucrose, 0.8% agar and different concentrations and combinations of growth regulators. Plant regeneration was successful from all of the mutated tissues. Plants with chlorophyll variegation in leaves and two new flower colours (light mauve and white) were isolated in pure form with 64% and 100% efficiency of mutant recovery, respectively. Attempts are being made to use this technique to establish new varieties from chimeric tissues to meet the increasing demand of the floriculture trade.     

On the origins of the Mendelian laws

The two laws usually attributed to Mendel were not considered as laws by him. The first law, the law of independent segregation occurs in Mendel's paper as an assumption or hypothesis. Hugo de Vries refers to this as a law discovered by Mendel. This appears to be the first use of an expression equivalent to Mendel's law. In his paper de Vries did not associate the observable characters with structures having a causitive role. That was done by Correns, who transformed the law of segregation of characters into a law of the segregation of anlagen. The second law, the law of independent assortment, is present in embryonic form in Mendel's paper. Here the independent assortment of characters appears as a secondary conclusion to a series of experiments involving several pairs of traits. Mendel repeats the primary conclusion later in the paper but not the secondary one. This leads us to believe that he considered the secondary conclusion as of lesser importance. We note in this context that the 9:3:3:1 ratio commonly associated with the idea of independent assortment, and attributed to Mendel, also does not occur in his paper. A careful reading of the papers of his discoverers shows it was Correns who first drew attention to this ratio. However, he did not formulate the second Mendelian law even though it was clearly implied. Neither was it stated by de Vries. Indeed, the first clear separation of the two laws and the naming of the second law was by T. H. Morgan some 13 years later.     

The induction of grain size and colour mutations in rice (Oryza sativa L.) by radioisotopes

Summary Seven mutants with changes in grain size and in pigmentation of various organs were isolated in the M ₂ and M ₃ generations of the Patnai variety of winter rice after treatment with ³² P and ³⁵ S. Some of these could be useful for breeding.The narrow grain mutant, isolated in the M ₃ generation after treatment with ³² P, was high-yielding and had fine grains and an increased number of long panicles.Two short grain mutants with changed husk colour were obtained in the M ₂ generation after treatment with ³² P. One was also early maturing.One purple apiculus and three purple husk mutants were isolated in the M ₂ generation after treatment with ³⁵ S. Some of these also had reduced plant height and short grains. The purple apiculus mutant bred true for stigma and apiculus colour, but segregated for leaf sheath colour. In purple husk mutants the segregation of mutant characteristics was unusual and there was manifestation of new characters.     

Inheritance of disease lesion mimic leaf trait in groundnut

In groundnut, two identical mutants with disease lesion mimic leaf trait were isolated independently from two different parents through induced mutagenesis and in vitro culture technique. The leaf chlorophyll content in both the mutants was found to be drastically reduced. The segregation pattern in the F(2) and F(3) generations for normal and mutant traits fitted a 13:3 ratio, indicating that the disease lesion mimic trait in the mutants was due to suppressive gene action. Both mutants were allelic for the disease mimic trait.     

Intraspecific variation of flower colour and its distribution within a sea lavender, Limonium wrightii (Plumbaginaceae), in the northwestern Pacific Islands

Differentiation of flower colour is thought to be one of the most important factors promoting plant speciation. We describe the intraspecific variation of flower colour and its distribution in Limonium wrightii. We conducted a survey on 36 islands in the northwestern Pacific and discriminated six morphs of flower colour variation. Two flower colour morphs, pink and yellow, were most frequently observed, and their geographical distributions were basically allopatric. These two morphs were in contact in a narrow zone on Okinoerabu Island, located in the middle region of the Ryukyu Archipelago. In addition, orange, white, and ivory flower morphs were also found in this zone. The geographical distribution of pink and yellow morphs showed a “leapfrog” pattern; the distribution of pink flowers was divided into two areas, intercalated by the distribution of the yellow flower morph. The orange morph may have resulted from hybridization between the pink and yellow flower morphs.     

玉米黄绿叶突变体表型鉴定及基因初步定位

叶色突变体是研究光合作用及叶绿体发育的重要材料。开展玉米叶色突变体的相关研究,对光形态建成、光合作用、基因功能注释、蛋白质功能及抗逆性机制的阐述具有重要的理论意义。本研究以黄绿叶突变体ygl-F17138为材料,与玉米自交系B73进行杂交,构建F2分离群体,进行遗传效应分析和基因初步定位。遗传分析表明,该突变性状由单个隐性核基因控制,且能稳定遗传。利用BSR-seq结合连锁分析的方法将该基因初步定位在第3条染色体上一个约9.2 Mb的区间内(chr.3:173087201~182203992),查询该区间内已知基因功能注释,未发现类似前人报道的调控黄绿叶性状基因,说明YGL-F17138基因可能是一个控制玉米黄绿叶发育未被挖掘的候选基因。     

Mechanism of gene conversion in Ascobolus immersus

Summary Sixty two ascospore colour mutants have been induced in Ascobolus immersus: 25 by an acridine (ICR₁₇₀), 18 by N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG) and 19 by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). All these mutants have been crossed to the wild type strain and their conversion spectrum has been determined. It appears that the conversion spectrum is closely related to the origin of the mutants studied with respect to the mutagen by which they were induced. All NG mutants gave numerous asci with postmeiotic segregation and an excess of conversion to wild type over conversion to the mutant type. ICR mutants gave no postmeiotic segregation and an excess of conversion to the mutant type. The majority of EMS mutants behave like NG mutants, but some showed only meiotic segregation with either an excess of conversion to the mutant type or an excess of conversion to wild type. These data are in good agreement with the hypothesis that the nature of the mutation has a strong influence on the conversion spectrum.     

基于表型性状的孔雀草种质遗传多样性分析

为了了解孔雀草种质间的亲缘关系,提高孔雀草种质的利用效率,从18个形态特征对40份孔雀草种质进行了遗传变异分析、主成分分析及聚类分析。结果表明,孔雀草表型多样性丰富,种质间表型性状变异程度高,变异系数(CV值)范围3.92%~46.25%,以花朵数最大,其次是冠幅和株高;Shannon-Weaver多样性指数则以叶片性状及花性状较高,平均2.0以上。国内种质比国外种质多样性更丰富。通过主成分分析,筛选出对总体方差累计贡献率达78.949%的4个主成分,并筛选出综合性状表现良好的种质10份。参试的40份种质在欧氏距离阈值为7.29处可分为两大类,一类植株生长势较强包含2份种质(水星黄色和橙色);其余38份种质为一类,在欧氏距离阈值为6.0处,又以花色差异可进一步划分为2个类群,说明生长势及花色可作为孔雀草种质依据表型性状分类的重要指标。     

甘蓝型油菜理化诱变和突变体库的构建

利用射线与甲基磺酸乙酯（EMS）溶液诱变技术复合处理甘蓝型油菜高油605的成熟种子。经田间M2筛选和M3验证, 共筛选到152个叶色、叶形、株高、分枝数、分枝角度、茎径、茎色、花色、花瓣数、花瓣大小、花蕊形态、雄性不育、死蕾及开花期等性状发生变异的突变体, 占M2诱变群体总数的12.67%。利用水培法进行M3和M4株系的子叶和根系变异性状筛选和验证, 发现子叶和根系变异频率分别为12.78%和7.07%。现已构建了包括叶片、株型、花器、子叶、根系及部分生理性状变异类型的突变体库, 可为今后油菜遗传改良和功能基因组学研究提供更多的种质资源。     

3个玉米黄叶突变体的光合特性研究

在农业生产中光合作用是作物积累生物量的主要方式,其主要依赖于多种光合色素和完整的叶绿体结构与功能。而玉米叶色突变体对于研究叶绿体发育、提高玉米光合作用能力和产量具有重要意义。以两个玉米自交系郑58(Z58)和B73为对照,对从甲基磺酸乙酯(ethyl methanesulphonate,EMS)处理后的不同玉米诱变群体中筛选到的2株黄叶突变体yl-1(yellow leaf-1,Z58背景)、yl-2(yellow leaf-2,B73背景)以及从玉米自交系Z58中发现的1株自然黄叶突变体yl-3(yellow leaf-3)等3个表型相似的玉米黄叶突变体的形态特征、光合色素含量、叶绿素合成前体物质含量进行了比较研究。结果表明,与对照相比,3个突变体在整个生长周期内均呈现不同程度的黄叶表型、不复绿、植株矮小、发育迟缓;叶片总叶绿素、叶绿素a和叶绿素b含量均显著降低(P<0.05),叶绿素a/叶绿素b比值显著升高(P<0.05);不同突变体的各类叶绿素合成前体物质含量有不同程度的降低。3个突变体的黄叶表型可能是由不同基因的突变导致相关四吡咯化合物合成异常引起的。研究结果为定位...     

Polymerase chain reaction detect polymorphisms and trait association in soybean

Five sets of synthetic oligonucleotide (20-to 24-mers containing no intenal repeats) primers of known gene sequences [yellow lupin nodule specific (hydroxyl) proline-rich protein, pearl millet alcohol dehydrogenase, Pisum sativum heat shock proteins, Drosophila homeobox, and tRNA] were used to differentiate 73 soybean accessions, including 56 Glycine max (L.) Merr. and 17 G. soja Zucc. & Sieb. The amplified genetic markers revealed polymorphic bands for most genotypes studied. The χ²-analyses of the results showed that several fragments produced with these gene primers were associated non-randomly with resistance to Phytophothora, maturity, seed size, flower colour, seed coat colour, seed hilum colour, growth type, and leaf shape. These markers appear to be valuable for differentiation of G. max and G. soja species and genotypes within these species. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The mutated locus and the changes in the background genotype of jute (C. olitorius L.)

Summary Morphologically similar leaf characters of two X-ray induced and independently isolated jute mutants from a common mother cultivar, JRO-632, were controlled by the same locus. However, they differed significantly in such quantitative characters as plant height, middle diameter, days to flower, node number and fibre yield/plant. Combining ability analysis from a 9 X 9 diallel set of crossing including these two mutants revealed that the mutants significantly differed in general combining ability (gca) effects for most of the traits in either direction or magnitude. Specific combining ability (sca) effects of the inter-mutant cross, as well as crosses with the common mother cultivar, JRO-632, also differed for most of the traits studied. It was suggested that X-irradiation induced random mutations effecting changes in the common background genotype, independent of the mutated locus.     

Effects of local density and flower colour polymorphism on pollination and reproduction in the rewardless orchid Dactylorhiza sambucina (L.) Soò

The rewardless orchid Dactylorhiza sambucina shows a stable flower colour polymorphism, with both yellow- and red-flowered morphs growing sympatrically. Pollination biology and breeding system were investigated to examine the effects of density of plants, colour polymorphism, inflorescence dimension, and flower position within inflorescence on male and female reproductive success in three natural populations of D. sambucina. There were significant differences among sites in the number of pollinia removed and in fruit set per inflorescence. Number of removed pollinia and capsule production in D. sambucina were independent from flower and inflorescence size or flower position. As a whole, the red morphs showed the highest number of capsules produced, while the yellow morphs had the greatest male success. The relative male and female reproductive success were independent from plant density but were significantly correlated with the yellow morph frequency at the population level. Overall, our findings show that the contribution to the total reproductive success deriving from the two colour morphs does not conform with the predictions of negative frequency-dependent selection.     

GENETIC HISTORY AND GENERAL COMPARISONS OF TWO ALBINO MUTATIONS OF HELIANTHUS ANNUUS

Wallace , Raymond H. (U. Connecticut, Storrs.), and Helen M. Habermann . Genetic history and general comparisons of two albino mutations of Helianthus annuus. Amer. Jour. Bot. 46(3) : 157-162. Illus. 1959.—The genetic history of the progeny of a single ultrasonically-treated seedling of Helianthus annuus L. has been summarized for the 6 generations for which quantitative data are available. A yellow mutation was found in the F₂ generation and later in the F₅, a second, white mutation occurred. Both mutants have been grown to maturity by grafting them onto normal green host plants and they have set viable seeds. Both pigment-deficient conditions are inherited as single recessive factors. These albino strains form chlorophyll during their seedling stages if they are grown at low light intensities. Chlorophyll is destroyed, however, under bright illumination and, once bleached, the capacity for chlorophyll formation appears to be lost. The yellow mutant contains xanthophyll but no traces of carotene have been found. In the white mutant, neither carotene nor xanthophyll have been detected. Flower color in the yellow mutant is normal while the flowers of the white mutant have no apparent pigmentation. The growth pattern of grafted yellow mutants is normal, save for a stiffer and woodier condition and a greater resistance to wilting. These characteristics have also been observed in grafted white mutants. In addition, there is a pronounced reduction in leaf size in the white mutant.     

Stamina pistilloida, the Pea ortholog of Fim and UFO, is required for normal development of flowers, inflorescences, and leaves

Isolation and characterization of two severe alleles at the Stamina pistilloida (Stp) locus reveals that Stp is involved in a wide range of developmental processes in the garden pea. The most severe allele, stp-4, results in flowers consisting almost entirely of sepals and carpels. Production of ectopic secondary flowers in stp-4 plants suggests that Stp is involved in specifying floral meristem identity in pea. The stp mutations also reduce the complexity of the compound pea leaf, and primary inflorescences often terminate prematurely in an aberrant sepaloid flower. In addition, stp mutants were shorter than their wild-type siblings due to a reduction in cell number in their internodes. Fewer cells were also found in the epidermis of the leaf rachis of stp mutants. Examination of the effects of stp-4 in double mutant combinations with af, tl, det, and veg2-2-mutations known to influence leaf, inflorescence, and flower development in pea-suggests that Stp function is independent of these genes. A synergistic interaction between weak mutant alleles at Stp and Uni indicated that these two genes act together, possibly to regulate primordial growth. Molecular analysis revealed that Stp is the pea homolog of the Antirrhinum gene Fimbriata (Fim) and of UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS (UFO) from Arabidopsis. Differences between Fim/UFO and Stp mutant phenotypes and expression patterns suggest that expansion of Stp activity into the leaf was an important step during evolution of the compound leaf in the garden pea.     

一种花色突变雄性不育油菜的发现

在甘蓝型油菜杂交种C022(其母本为由3对基因控制育性的隐性细胞核雄性不育系9012A)不育株开放受粉的后代中,发现一种稀有的黄白双色嵌合花瓣的甘蓝型油菜突变体991S。其具有3个形态特征:(1)4片花瓣每片中央均为条带状黄色色斑,而两侧为白色,为嵌合双色花瓣;(2)4片花萼也可发生中间条带状白化;(3)目前只在不同群体的雄性不育株中出现,与同源的黄色花不育株形态相似,植株纤细矮小,花器也较小,花瓣较为平整,雌蕊弯曲,雄蕊退化,花药干缩。通过对其材料来源及后代花色表型分析,初步认为黄白双色性状由可局部表达的隐性白化基因控制。     

Quantifying Plant Colour and Colour Difference as Perceived by Humans Using Digital Images

Human perception of plant leaf and flower colour can influence species management. Colour and colour contrast may influence the detectability of invasive or rare species during surveys. Quantitative, repeatable measures of plant colour are required for comparison across studies and generalisation across species. We present a standard method for measuring plant leaf and flower colour traits using images taken with digital cameras. We demonstrate the method by quantifying the colour of and colour difference between the flowers of eleven grassland species near Falls Creek, Australia, as part of an invasive species detection experiment. The reliability of the method was tested by measuring the leaf colour of five residential garden shrub species in Ballarat, Australia using five different types of digital camera. Flowers and leaves had overlapping but distinct colour distributions. Calculated colour differences corresponded well with qualitative comparisons. Estimates of proportional cover of yellow flowers identified using colour measurements correlated well with estimates obtained by measuring and counting individual flowers. Digital SLR and mirrorless cameras were superior to phone cameras and point-and-shoot cameras for producing reliable measurements, particularly under variable lighting conditions. The analysis of digital images taken with digital cameras is a practicable method for quantifying plant flower and leaf colour in the field or lab. Quantitative, repeatable measurements allow for comparisons between species and generalisations across species and studies. This allows plant colour to be related to human perception and preferences and, ultimately, species management.     

航天诱变百脉根结瘤突变体的筛选

通过返回式卫星搭载,利用太空环境对百脉根(Lotus japonicus)MG-20种子进行诱变。从种植的三代植株中,筛选到多种共生固氮根瘤的突变体,其中不结根瘤突变体18个株系,表现为接种根瘤菌两周后无根瘤形成;结无效根瘤突变体9个株系,表现为根瘤数目少且分布不均匀,根瘤呈白色,有些为半透明;花叶形态异常突变体1个株系,表现为除根瘤数目少外,植株矮小、托叶消失、花形态异常;纤细突变体1个株系,表现为除根瘤数目少外,植株变小、茎细叶小。