The consequences of an unusual Robertsonian translocation in celery (Apium graveolens var dulce)

Abstract

A Robertsonian translocation found in a cultivar of celery is described which is unusual because half the small product of the exchange survives as a telocentric chromosome. The change has no drastic effect on the overall fitness of the translocation homozygote. The consequences of such a change for karyotype evolution are shown to be, karyotype asymmetry, the possible genesis of B-chromosomes and the possibility of a chromosome change becoming established even though it has no adaptive value.