Semidwarf Gene d60 Affected by Ubiquitous Gamete Lethal Gene gal Produced Rare Double Dwarf with d30 via Recombination Breaking Repulsion-Phase Linkage on Rice Chromosome 2

The genotype of gal and d60 were investigated in 33 rice varieties chosen from representative semidwarf and dwarf rice varieties. These were crossed with three tester lines, the d60Gal line (genotype d60d60GalGal), the D60gal line (Koshihikari, D60D60galgal), and the D60Gal line (D60D60GalGal). Each F1 plant was measured for culm length, and seed fertility. As a result, all F1 lines with the d60Gal line showed tallness and partial sterility, reduced by 25% in average from those with the D60gal line (Koshihikari) and the D60Gal line. These data indicated that the genotype of the 33 varieties is D60D60galgal and that the d60 locus is not allelic to those of sd1, d1, d2, d6, d18k, d29, d30, d35, d49, d50, and qCL1 involved in the 33 varieties. In addition, the gal gene is not complementarily activated with the semidwarf and dwarf genes described above, other than d60. The Gal gene will be ubiquitously distributed in rice. It is emphasized that Gal is a rare and valuable mutant gene essential to the transmission of d60. The double dwarf genotype of homozygous d30d60 was rarely gained in the F3 of the d30 line × d60 line by breaking their repulsion d60-D30 linkage on chromosome 2.

Genetic and cytological analyses of three lethal ovule mutants in soybean (Glycine max; Leguminosae)

Soybean partially sterile mutants 2, 3, and 4 (PS-2, PS-3, and PS-4), recovered from a gene-tagging experiment, were studied to clarify their inheritance, linkage, allelism, and reproductive biology. The PS-2, PS-3, and PS-4 mutants were maintained as heterozygotes and upon self-pollination segregated l fertile: l partially-sterile. For inheritance and linkage tests, all three PS mutants were crossed to flower color mutant Harosoy-w4 and to chlorophyll-deficient (CD) mutants CD-1 and CD-5, also recovered from the tagging study. For allelism tests, reciprocal crosses were made among the three partially sterile mutants. Linkage results indicated that the gene for partial sterility in the PS-2, PS-3, and PS-4 mutants was not linked either to the w4 locus or to the genes for chlorophyll deficiency. Studies of pollen development, pollen viability, and pollen-tube germination indicated no difference between normal and partially sterile genotypes. Linkage and allelism tests indicated that the gene in the three partially sterile mutants was not transmitted through the female when they were used as a female parent. A study of megagametogenesis indicated that the ovules from partially sterile plants had normal embryo sac development. Ovule abortion was due to failure of fertilization.Key words: partially sterile, gene tagging, ovule abortion, soybean.

The mac1 Gene: Controlling the Commitment to the Meiotic Pathway in Maize

The switch from the vegetative to the reproductive pathway of development in flowering plants requires the commitment of the subepidermal cells of the ovules and anthers to enter the meiotic pathway. These cells, the hypodermal cells, either directly or indirectly form the archesporial cells that, in turn, differentiate into the megasporocytes and microsporocytes. We have isolated a recessive pleiotropic mutation that we have termed multiple archesporial cells1 (macl) and located it to the short arm of chromosome 10. Its cytological phenotype suggests that this locus plays an important role in the switch of the hypodermal cells from the vegetative to the meiotic (sporogenous) pathway in maize ovules. During normal ovule development in maize, only a single hypodermal cell develops into an archesporial cell and this differentiates into the single megasporocyte. In macl mutant ovules several hypodermal cells develop into archesporial cells, and the resulting megasporocytes undergo a normal meiosis. More than one megaspore survives in the tetrad and more than one embryo sac is formed in each ovule. Ears on mutant plants show partial sterility resulting from abnormalities in megaspore differentiation and embryo sac formation. The sporophytic expression of this gene is therefore also important for normal female gametophyte development.