INCIPIENT GENOME DIFFERENTIATION IN GOSSYPIUM. II. COMPARISON OF 12 CHROMOSOMES IN G. HIRSUTUM, G. MUSTELINUM AND G. TOMENTOSUM USING HETEROZYGOUS TRANSLOCATIONS

Eight homozygous translocation lines (TT) of G. hirsutum marking 3 chromosomes of the A genome and 9 chromosomes of the D genome were crossed with G. hirsutum,  G. mustelinum and G. tomentosum, all homozygous for the standard end arrangements (tt). Chiasma frequencies in the G. hirsutum Tt controls were compared with those in the G. hirsutum × G. mustelinum and the G. hirsutum × G. tomentosum Tt hybrids. Both nucleus-wide and regionspecific chiasma frequencies were compared.—Some genome differentiation appears to have arisen between G. hirsutum and G. mustelinum. The G. hirsutum × G. mustelinum hybrids had a 1.8 to 1.9% reduction in the nucleus-wide chiasma frequency. Four of the eight TT lines showed a 3.4 to 10.5% reduction in chiasmata in the hybrid translocation quadrivalents, suggesting that chromosomes 1, 21, 23 and 24 may have undergone localized genome differentiation. The two species may differ naturally in the end arrangement of two chromosomes, since a quadrivalent not due to experimentally introduced translocations was observed in 13% of the PMC's of two G. hirsutum × G. mutelinum hybrids.—Very little genome differentiation has occurred between G. hirsutum and G. tomentosum. In the G. hirsutum × G. tomentosum hybrids, the nucleus-wide estimates showed only a very small (0.1 to 0.2%), though statistically significant, lowering of the chiasma frequency, and there was no reduction in chiasma frequency in the more sensitive readings for specific translocation quadrivalents.