Abstract
Preleptotene chromosome contraction was observed in individuals of Lilium longiflorum “Ace” grown at high temperatures in a glasshouse and at moderate or cool temperatures in a lathhouse. The lathhouse plants exhibited an extremely high degree of preleptotene contraction and the glasshouse plants an extremely low degree of preleptotene contraction. It is known that high temperature increases and low temperature decreases the rate of meiosis. Therefore it is proposed that the amounts of preleptotene contraction observed in lathhouse and glasshouse plants reflect the relative durations of the preleptotene contraction stages in these individuals. Differences in degree of chromosome contraction among microsporocytes in different regions of the anther may be attributed to the effects of axial and transverse gradients of metabolism on duration of the preleptotene contraction state. Any genotype that increases or decreases microsporocyte sensitivity to temperature, or otherwise alters the duration of the preleptotene spiralization period, should influence the degree of preleptotene contraction.
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Walters, M.S. The relation of temperature to preleptotene chromosome contraction in Lilium . Chromosoma 61, 23–39 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292677
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292677