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Results

In PMCs from Frondoso, 21-bivalent configurations were observed, however, some had a ring or a chain quadrivalent (
Fig.1). Meiotic configurations, differing from a 21-bivalent configuration, were observed in at least one cell of eight of the 10 Frondoso plants analyzed (Table1). In addition to bivalents, univalents and/or quadrivalents were observed in 37.5% of the cells. A quadrivalent was observed in at least one cell in seven of the 10 plants analyzed and a quadrivalent was observed to be present in 6% of the cells analyzed. Twenty-five percent of the quadrivalents were observed as chains and 75% as rings. Three of the plants were monosomic and two of these, had a ring and/or chain quadrivalent along with a univalent in some cells (Table1).

Discussion

The presence of quadrivalents in Frondoso, at a frequency of 6%, is comparable to the 10.7% frequency reported by Primard et al. (1991) for Atlas 66. Love (1951) observed abnormal meiosis in Frontana, a Brazilian cultivar with the same pedigree as Frondoso, and Vega and Lacadena (1982) detected quadrivalents in hybrids produced from crossing Chinese Spring to Mentana, a parent of Frondoso.

It is possible that Frondoso is a genetically unstable cultivar of the type described by Suarez et al. (1988). They observed that some Argentinean wheat cultivars showed aneuploidy at a frequency as hieh as 27%. Ring and chain quadrivalents were common in these cultivars and it was suggested that aneuploids arose from an abnormal regrouping of chromosomes at telophase 1 of meiosis. In addition, depending on the orientation of a quadrivalent and the occurrence of crossovers during meiosis, duplicate-deficient gametes, indicated by a reduction in pollen fertility, can be produced in plants with a quadrivalent configuration (Burnham 1956). In the present study, no quantitative data was gathered on the pollen fertility of Frondoso; however, a number of spikes on various plants were observed to be infertile, possibly as a result of pollen sterility.

Because Frondoso is a parent of Atlas 66 and quadrivalents were observed to occur at a comparable frequency in both cultivars, it is possible that Atlas 66 inherited its translocation from Frondoso. Test crosses are being made to Frondoso to determine if quadrivalents result from a translocation involving the same chromosome arms as in Atlas 66.


References

Baier AC, Zeller FJ and Fischbeck G (1974) Identification of three chromosomal interchanges in common wheat, Triticum aestivum L. Can J Genet Cytol 16: 349-354.

Burnham CR (1956) Chromosomal interchanges in plants. Bot Rev 22: 419-552.

Darlington CD and LaCour LF (1950) The handling of chromosomes. 2nd ed., Alien and Unwin Pub. (London, UK).

Heyne EG (1958) Registration of improved wheat varieties, XXI. Agron J 50: 396-399.

Kimber G and Sears ER (1968) Nomenclature for the description of aneuploids in the Triticinae. Proc 3rd Int Wheat Genet Symp (Canberra, Australia) pp 468-473.

Lange W, Linde-Laursen 1, Larsen J, Ljungberg A and Ellerstrom S (1987) Cytogenetic analysis of structural rearrangements in three varieties of common wheat, Triticum aestivum. Theor Appl Genet 73: 635-645.

Love RM (1951) Varietal differences in meiotic chromosome behavior of Brazilian wheats. Agron J 43: 72-76.

Primard SJ, Morris R and Papa CM (1991) Cytogenetic studies on a heterozygous reciprocal translocation in the wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivar Atlas 66. Genome 34: 313-316.

Suarez EY, Buck H, Garcia M and lerace G (1988) Pheno-karyotypic instability in wheat. Proc 7th Int Wheat Genet Symp (Cambridge, UK) PP 1185- 1193.

Vega C and Lacadena JR (1982) Cytogenetic structure of common wheat cultivars from or introduced into Spain. Theor Appl Genet 61: 129-133.

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