As discussed in MNL 56:49, the yellow fluorescence of anther walls that is characteristic of bz bz plants is unaffected by the genotype for other color factors, except for the white-pollen genotype, homozygous c2 whp. As reported in the preceding note, a c2-m2 whp bz Spm plant showed anthers with yellow-fluorescent sectors, which is consistent with the other genotypic information. On the other hand, homozygous bz-m4 plants show variable anther fluorescence, according to observations over a period of days on a family of 16 plants in the summer of 1979. Some individuals were found to have strongly yellow-fluorescent anthers, others weakly, and others variable; observations of different samples from the same plants were inconsistent. The bz-m4 allele may be marginal in its expression, depending upon conditions, at the time of anther wall pigment synthesis.

When yellow pollen from bz bz plants is placed on a slide with ammoniacal glycerol and examined under the microscope, the yellow color is found to be localized in one or two small vesicles, usually near the pore, rather than distributed throughout the pollen grain as in Bz pollen. Presumably this localization reflects a difference in the accumulated flavonoids in the two different genotypes.

E. H. Coe, Jr.
 
 

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