An antigenic comparison of tryptophan synthetase derived from various strains of [formula omitted

Abstract

Pollen grains from a diploid pure line are submitted to mutagenic treatment. A metabolic pathway resulting in a given trait is assumed to be controlled by a set of n mutationally independent loci, each of which is liable to mutate towards a fully penetrant nonlethal recessive allele that interrupts the metabolic pathway when present in the homozygous state in a diploid. Untreated ovules from the same line are fecundated by treated pollen and yield M1 plants which are selfed to produce the M2 generation. A sample of M1 individuals is drawn and the following problems are considered: •The minimum sample size N that ensures, with a chosen minimum probability r, that at least one M1 heterozygous carrier is present in the sample;•the relationship between N, n, the number h of heterogeneous M2 progenies and the mutation rate p per locus;•the type of segregation ratio that is most likely to be observed in a heterogeneous M2 progeny.