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ANATOMY OF IMMATURE GRAINS OF EIGHT MATERNAL EFFECT SHRUNKEN ENDOSPERM BARLEY MUTANTS
Author(s) -
Felker Frederick C.,
Peterson David M.,
Nelson Oliver E.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1985.tb08289.x
Subject(s) - endosperm , biology , mutant , phenotype , hordeum vulgare , embryo , botany , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , genetics , poaceae
The anatomical basis for the shrunken endosperm phenotype of eight recessive maternal effect mutants ( seg 1‐ seg 8) of barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is described. Plants which are homozygous recessive for these nuclear genes produce only shrunken seeds regardless of pollen source. Light microscopy revealed that four of the mutants, seg 1 , seg 3 , seg 6, and seg 7, exhibited premature termination of grain filling because of the necrosis and crushing of the chalaza and nucellar projection of the pericarp early in the grain‐filling period, resulting in thin, wrinkled seed. Endosperm growth of these mutants before the occurrence of chalazal necrosis seemed normal. The other four mutants exhibited characteristic abnormalities in the endosperm growth pattern but normal development of matemal‐origin tissues. Endosperm size was severely reduced in seg 2, in which two flat columns of tissue were present with no central endosperm. Seg 4 and seg 5 developed distorted, disorganized endosperms of variable size. Endosperms of seg 8 developed as two well‐filled lobes with no central endosperm, resulting in a distinct dorsal crease. We suggest that the mutants are useful as probes to study maternal effects on endosperm development.