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Impaired Male Meiosis due to Irregular Synapsis Coupled with Cytomixis in a New Diploid Cytotype of Dianthus angulatus (Caryophyllaceae) from Indian Cold Deserts

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Abstract

Dianthus angulatus (Caryophyllaceae) is cytologically examined here for the first time for the area of India. The diploid chromosome count of 2n = 30, ascertained here, represents a new cytotype, supplementing the earlier report of a hexaploid cytotype with 2n = 90 from outside of India. We report here the occurrence of two plants showing impaired meiosis due to irregular synapsis and cytomixis collected from Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh (India). The other plants of this species collected in Lahaul-Spiti region showed normal male meiosis (n = 15) with a high (95%−100%) pollen fertility and normal seed set, and they reproduce sexually. Irregular synapsis in two plants from the Kinnaur region is characterized by the complete absence of chromosome pairing and the presence of 30 univalents at diakinesis and meta-anaphase. In addition, other meiotic irregularities were found, such as unoriented chromosomes, laggards, precocious movements of univalents at anaphase-I and micronuclei at telophase. Microsporogenesis was also abnormal, resulting in the formation of monads, dyads, triads, polyads, and tetrads with micronuclei. The occurrence of intra- and intermicrosporal chromatin material transfer during microsporogenesis was observed, which is a rather rarely observed phenomenon. The synaptic irregularities coupled with chromatin transfer in these plants seem to be responsible for the high pollen sterility (38%−42%) and heterogeneously sized pollen grains. In these plants no seeds were set, and plants reproduced vegetatively through root suckers.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi for providing financial assistance under the DRS SAP I&II and ASIST program and CSIR for providing senior research fellowship to senior author. Further support was provided by the UGC under the Dr. D.S. Kothari Post- Doctoral Fellowship Scheme {Award Letter No. F.4-2/2006 (BSR)/13-427/2011(BSR)} to Dr. Puneet Kumar. Thanks are also due to the Head, Department of Botany for necessary laboratory and library facilities. The authors are very grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers for their assistance and valuable suggestions, which were helpful in improving the quality of this paper.

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  1. Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, Punjab, India

    Puneet Kumar, Vijay Kumar Singhal & Dalvir Kaur

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  1. Puneet Kumar
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  2. Vijay Kumar Singhal
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  3. Dalvir Kaur
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Correspondence to Vijay Kumar Singhal.

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Kumar, P., Singhal, V.K. & Kaur, D. Impaired Male Meiosis due to Irregular Synapsis Coupled with Cytomixis in a New Diploid Cytotype of Dianthus angulatus (Caryophyllaceae) from Indian Cold Deserts. Folia Geobot 47, 59–68 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-011-9107-8

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