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THE EFFECTS OF GENOTYPE AND PLOIDY LEVEL ON POLLEN SURFACE SCULPTURING IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.)
Author(s) -
Southworth Darlene,
Pfahler Paul
Publication year - 1992
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.1537-2197.1992.tb13752.x
Subject(s) - biology , pollen , ploidy , hybrid , botany , zea mays , chromosome , ultrastructure , gene , agronomy , genetics
Pollen exine sculpturing is a consistent feature of seed plant taxa, yet no mechanism for control of sculpturing pattern has been found. On grass pollen, exine sculpturing takes the form of closely packed spinules. Exine spinules on pollen grains from six maize populations representing all combinations of three genetic backgrounds (single cross hybrids W22 W23, N6 W23, R75 W23) and two ploidy levels (2 x , 4 x ) were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Doubling ploidy levels from 2 x to 4 x increased pollen diameter (minor axis) with the magnitude of increase related to genetic background. For spinule density, only the effect of genetic background was statistically significant. Spinule density was altered by the genotype of the plant on which the pollen was produced but not by the ploidy level, including genome number and difference in surface area and cytoplasmic volume resulting from chromosome doubling.