Somatic mutation frequency in the stamen hairs of Tradescantia KU 7 and KU 9 clones exposed to low-level gamma rays.

Abstract

Two triploid clones (KU 7 and KU 9) of Tradescantia heterozygous for flower color were exposed to 1 to 42.3R of gamma rays or the scattering radiation in the gamma field of the Institute of Radiation . Breeding. Occurrence of somatic pink mutations in the stamen hairs was investigated 10 to 16 (or 14) days after irradiation. The mutation frequency was found to increase linearly with increasing gamma-ray exposure in the both clones, and the frequencies of 0.437 and 0.468 pink mutant events per 103 hairs per R were determined for KU 7 and KU 9, respectively. When the data collected in the present study were analyzed together with those obtained in earlier experiments in the gamma field, linear relationships of the somatic mutation frequency with gamma-ray (2.1 to 201.6R) and scattering radiation (0.72 to 57.6R) exposures were confirmed. Scattering radiation was found to have a genetical efficiency more than two times higher than that of gamma rays. Variation of spontaneous mutation frequency observed in the present study and in earlier studies was inversely correlated to temperature variation.