Coenocytism, ameiosis, and chromosome diminution in intergeneric hybrids in the perennial Triticeae

Abstract

Three different pathways of ameiotic microsporogenesis were observed in some intergeneric hybrids of the perennial Triticeae grasses. In one of the hybrids between Pseudoroegneria spicata ssp. inermis and Psathyrostachys juncea, pollen mother cells remained as premeiotic interphase cells when the pollen grain wall started to form. The microspores in such an ameiotic plant are presumably unreduced. Coenocyte formation coupled with ameiosis occurred in two hybrid plants of Psathyrostachys huashanica × Secale montanum. Less than 10% of the pollen mother cells had one nucleus. An average of 4.44 nuclei, ranging from 1 to 25 per pollen mother cell, was observed. The nuclei in coenocytes remained unfused when the pollen grain wall was formed. Nucleus splitting followed by cytoplasmic budding or cleavage, possibly a process of chromosome diminution or elimination, replaced meiotic divisions in most of the pollen mother cells in one plant of Leymus angustus × Hordeum bulbosum and two plants of Thinopyrum elongatum × Psathyrostachys juncea. It is evident that these meiotic abnormalities are under genetic control. Probable locations for these genes controlling these phenomena are suggested.Key words: coenocyte, ameiosis, chromosome diminution, chromosome elimination, microsporogenesis, unreduced gamete, polyploidy, intergeneric hybrid.