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CULTURE AND HYBRIDIZATION STUDIES ON GIGARTINA PAPILLATA (RHODOPHYTA) 1
Author(s) -
Polanshek Alan R.,
West John A.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of phycology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1529-8817
pISSN - 0022-3646
DOI - 10.1111/j.1529-8817.1977.tb02902.x
Subject(s) - gametophyte , biology , crustose , apomixis , botany , life history , sporophyte , algae , ploidy , ecology , pollen , biochemistry , gene
The foliose red alga Gigartina papillata (C. Ag.) J. Ag. was studied in culture to determine its life history and possible relationship to the life history of Petrocelis middendorffii (Ruprecht) Kjellman. Carpospores cultured from individual female plants gave rise to either crustose Petrocelis‐ like plants that reproduced by tetraspores, or to another generation of foliose female (cystocarpic) plants that reproduced by carpospores. Apices cultured from blades of individual field‐collected female plants produced either papillae with many procarps that developed cystocarps only when crossed with male plants, or papillae with few procarps that produced cystocarps in the absence of male plants. The results are interpreted to demonstrate that two types of life history occur in G. papillata: one, a sexual life history involving a crustose tetrasporophyte; the other, a possibly apomictic life history involving only cystocarpic plants. Hybridization experiments demonstrated, that G. papillata is interfertile with Gigartina‐ phase gametophytes cultured from tetraspores of P. middendorffii. Sexual plants of G. papillata are postulated to represent the naturally‐occurring gametophyte of P. middendorffii in California. The possible relationships of the sexual and apomictic plants of G. papillata are discussed.