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Haploid induction in potato: Cytological basis for the pollinator effect

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Summary

A hexaploid endosperm is regularly associated with a haploid embryo following 4x–2x crosses in potato. One explanation for this is that a single 24-chromosome restitution sperm nucleus fuses with the central cell of the megagametophyte. This suggests that a superior pollinator may be one that produces a high frequency of restitution sperm nuclei. To test this, a technique was developed for observing pollen tube mitosis in vitro following germination of potato pollen in a 20% lactose-50 ppm boric acid solution. A single 24-chromosome restitution sperm nucleus was found in up to 38% of the pollen tubes from a superior pollinator. Moreover, pollen from an inferior pollinator soaked in a sucrose-boric acid-colchicine solution produced 100% restitution sperm nuclei in vitro and a haploid frequency from a tetraploid cultivar comparable to that normally induced by an untreated superior pollinator. The data indicate that the effectiveness of a pollinator in inducing haploids in potato is determined by the frequency of restitution sperm nuclei it produces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, Madison, Wisc., U.S.A.

    H. Montelongo-Escobedo & P. R. Rowe

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  1. H. Montelongo-Escobedo
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  2. P. R. Rowe
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Cooperative investigations of the Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. Part of a thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Ph. D. degree. Published with the approval of the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station.

Research Assistant, Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin, and Research Geneticist, Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

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Montelongo-Escobedo, H., Rowe, P.R. Haploid induction in potato: Cytological basis for the pollinator effect. Euphytica 18, 116–123 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021990

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021990

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