Hybrid wheat. VII. Tests on the transmission of cytoplasmic male sterility in wheat by embryo-endosperm grafting

摘要

Embryo-endosperm graftings have been made in order to investigate the possible asexual transmission of cytoplasmic male sterility in wheat using normal (B-lines) and male sterile (A-lines) plants. Fertility analyses carried out in the offspring of grafted plants show that neither male sterile endosperms influence the fertility of fertile embryos nor fertile endosperms restore the fertility of male sterile embryos. Several plants expected to be sterile yielded some seeds having 42, 43 and 35 chromosomes in their somatic cells. A parthenogenetic origin is postulated. The repeated occurrence of 35-chromosome plants suggests the possibility that a systematic and selective elimination of an entire genome has taken place. © 1968 H. Veenman en Zonen N.V.