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EMBRYO SAC DEVELOPMENT IN THE CV. KS MALE‐STERILE, FEMALE‐STERILE LINE OF SOYBEAN (GLYCINE MAX)
Author(s) -
Benavente R. Sandra,
Skorupska Halina,
Palmer Reid G.,
Shoemaker Randy C.
Publication year - 1989
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.1537-2197.1989.tb15166.x
Subject(s) - ovule , biology , gametophyte , embryo , pollen tube , megaspore , botany , endosperm , pollen , sterility , genetics , pollination
Light microscopic observations were made on 22 ovules from fertile plants and 108 ovules from sterile plants of the cv. KS synaptic mutant, a highly male‐sterile, female‐sterile line of soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] (2 n = 2 x = 40). Ovules of fertile siblings contained normal embryo sacs and embryos. Ovules from sterile plants contained various irregularities. The most consistent abnormality was the failure of the embryo sac to attain normal size. Small megasporocytes of irregular shape were seen; only one megasporocyte of normal shape and size was noted. No linear tetrads were found. However, two ovules contained nonlinear triads. A range from zero to 28 cells and nuclei, of various sizes, were identifiable in small megagametophytes and embryo sacs. Degeneration of these nuclei and cells was noted as early as the four‐nucleate gametophyte stage. Other ovules contained degenerated nucellar centers without embryo sacs. Two ovules appeared to be normal. Late postpollination stages were marked by shrunken nucellus and integuments. The presence of pollen tube traces, endosperm, and aborting embryos in ovules of hand‐pollinated flowers from sterile plants suggested that no incompatibility was involved. Degeneration of the gametophyte and embryo sac contents at many developmental stages indicated a wide array of effects, possibly resulting from meiotic irregularities similar to those seen in microsporogenesis of this mutant.