Theme 03: Seed Production
Description
Apomixis, as it exists in Poa pratensis L., permits to combine genotype fixation with propagation by seed. The process of apomictic seed production involves the formation of embryo sacs without meiotic reduction (apospory) and embryos without egg cell fertilization (parthenogenesis). Further information on the genetic control of apomixis was obtained by analyzing aposporous parthenogenesis and the segregation of molecular markers in a progeny resulting from a “sexual” (S) x “apomictic”(A) cross. Data from the 35 F1 plants examined so far have shown that parthenogenesis segregated 1:1, confirming control by a dominant gene, simplex in the parthenogenetic parent. Analysis of variance and regression were used to find single markers from the A and S parents affecting the trait in the 15 parthenogenetic progenies. A minimum of 4 genes from the sexual parent and 1 from the apomictic parent influencing the expression of parthenogenesis appeared to segregate in this cross.
Included in
Genetic Control of Parthenogenesis in Kentucky Bluegrass: Results from a Sexual x Apomictic Cross
Apomixis, as it exists in Poa pratensis L., permits to combine genotype fixation with propagation by seed. The process of apomictic seed production involves the formation of embryo sacs without meiotic reduction (apospory) and embryos without egg cell fertilization (parthenogenesis). Further information on the genetic control of apomixis was obtained by analyzing aposporous parthenogenesis and the segregation of molecular markers in a progeny resulting from a “sexual” (S) x “apomictic”(A) cross. Data from the 35 F1 plants examined so far have shown that parthenogenesis segregated 1:1, confirming control by a dominant gene, simplex in the parthenogenetic parent. Analysis of variance and regression were used to find single markers from the A and S parents affecting the trait in the 15 parthenogenetic progenies. A minimum of 4 genes from the sexual parent and 1 from the apomictic parent influencing the expression of parthenogenesis appeared to segregate in this cross.
