MOSCOW, USSR

All-Union Inst. Agric. Biotechnology

KRASNODAR, USSR

Krasnodar Research Institute of Agric.

Development of heterochromatin polymorphism in inbred lines

--A. B. Romanova, D. M. Atayeva, V. S. Shcherbak and M. V. Chumak

When C-heterochromatic patterns were compared in root-tip mitotic chromosomes of B55, W132, H95, Mo17, W64, B84 and Cg25 inbreds, the size and distribution of heterochromatin blocks significantly differed in homologous chromosomes. Similar observations were previously reported in rye inbreds (Weimarck, Hereditas 79:293, 1975; Lelleg et al., Can. J. Genet. Cytol. 20:307, 1978).

In an attempt to determine more precisely when this intra-inbred polymorphism might appear, we investigated seven dihaploid lines produced in Krasnodar and once again found that homologous chromosomes differed by their heterochromatic patterns. We suggest that the physiological implications of the de novo development of heterochromatin polymorphism described above could possibly include mechanisms of both adaptation and somaclonal variation in maize.

Please Note: Notes submitted to the Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter may be cited only with consent of the authors

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