Dormancy and proliferation in Saccharum officinarum×S. spontaneum hybrids which differ in the number of the introgressed S. spontaneum chromosomes

Abstract

Proliferating cells remain transiently blocked at different cycle compartments until specific stressors are removed or until the cells become adapted to their presence. This paper investigates the efficiency of cycle blocks in three sugarcane hybrids with the full noble cane (Saccharum officinarum) genome (2n=8x=80) but differing in the number of introgressed S. spontaneum (2n=8x=64) chromosomes. The My5514, B42231 and C236-51 cultivars possess 20, 30 and 40 additional S. spontaneum chromosomes, respectively. Flow cytometry showed that over 90% of cells were accumulated with a 2C DNA content in their dormant primordia. The presence of S. spontaneum chromosomes decreased the low stringency of the 4C block. The greater the number of these chromosomes, the lower was the number of quiescent cells with a 4C DNA content (P<0.05). Shortly after stimulation of the primordia (85% relative humidity and 30 degrees C), i.e. in the 2 mm long roots, a negative correlation was found between the number of introgressed S. spontaneum chromosomes and the frequency of cells undergoing replication and mitosis. On the other hand, when roots were already proliferating under steady-state conditions (15 mm long roots) the more S. spontaneum chromosomes the cells possessed, the longer the relative time it took for all chromosomes to replicate and segregate, and the longer the relative time they spent in G(2), with the 4C DNA content. The presence of S. spontaneum chromosomes seems to be recognized by these proliferating cells as a stressor which preferentially activates checkpoint pathways operating at the second half of the cycle, but not at its onset.