INHERITANCE OF FLOWER PIGMENT IN CROSSES BETWEEN CYCLAMEN CULTIVARS AND CYCLAMEN PURPURASCENS

Abstract

Although interspecific hybrids between cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) cultivars and C. purpurascens were produced by using the ovule culture, mode of inheritance of flower pigment remains obscure. Therefore, inheritance of anthocyanin in the petals in the crosses between diploid cyclamen cultivars and C. purpurascens was investigated in the present study. In every cross combination, including the crosses by using acyanic cyclamen cultivars without the eye, all the F1 progenies had a purple or reddish-purple eye in the petals, showing the eye expression was a dominant characteristic. All the F1 progenies contained anthocyanins in the petals, whereas some progenies in the crosses by using a yellow-flowered cultivar contained very small amount of anthocyanin. The main flower pigment of C. purpurascens was malvidin 3,5-diglucoside. All the F1 progenies also contained 3,5- diglucoside type anthocyanins, such as malvidin 3,5-diglucoside, peonidin 3,5-diglucoside and cyanidin 3,5-diglucoside, in the petals as the main pigments even in the crosses by using acyanic cultivars or cyanic cultivars containing malvidin 3-glucoside or peonidin 3-neohesperidoside in the petals as the main pigment. These results suggest that the expression of 5-glucosyltransferase in anthocyanin synthesis in the petals was dominant even in the crosses between cyclamen cultivars and C. purpurascens.