Study of fertility and cytogenetic variability in androgenic plants (R0 and R1) of the alloplasmic introgression lines of common wheat

Abstract

Anther culture is one of the methods for obtaining doubled haploid (DH) lines of wheat, widely used in genetics and breeding. The cytogenetic instability in R0 plants, leading to a decrease in fertility or sterility, can be a limitation of this method. In this study, we have investigated the fertility of R0 and the fertility and cytogenetic variability of R1 in the alloplasmic introgression lines of common wheat in order to develop cytogenetically stable DH lines with introgressions from different species. Lines 311/134, 311/FL, and 311/IR with the cytoplasm from H. vulgare were studied. The 311/134 line carries the wheat–rye 1RS.1BL and the wheat–wheatgrass 7DL-7Ai translocations; the 311/FL line has the 1RS.1BL translocation and probably introgressions from A. glaucum; and the 311/IR line has the wheat–rye 1RS.1BL and wheat–Ae. speltoides T2B/2S#2 translocations. Green seedlings developed in the anther culture of all the lines. The differences between the lines in their ability for androgenesis and in the level of fertility in R0 and R1 have been revealed. Depressed androgenesis, low fertility, and high aneuploidy were observed in 311/IR. It has been proposed that the reason for this is the cytogenetic instability of the gametes, caused by the Gc genes located on T2B/2S#2. Among the 311/134 and 311/FL R1 plants, grown from low seed-set R0 plants, 63.3% were aneuploids. Fertile R0 regenerant plants that segregated in R1 by fertility and chromosome numbers were identified. It was demonstrated that the DH lines are best developed from high-fertility R1 plants with 2n = 42 and a high fertility level, irrespective of the fertility level of R0.