A viviparous, mutable aleurone mutant segregated on the selfed ear of a plant derived from our 1981 a1 sh2/purple Mutator isolation plot. The selfed ear segregated for purple, yellow-mutable-viviparous, and yellow shrunken2 kernels. The mutable viviparous kernels had a heavy pattern of purple spots (40 to 70 spots/mm²) , and each spot consisted of a single, heavily colored cell with little or no diffusion of anthocyanin into neighboring cells. This past summer, allele tests were made which confirmed that the mutant is an allele of vp1. We have chosen the allele designation of vp1-Mum1 for this mutant. Ears from crosses of TB-3La onto heterozygous vp1-Mum1 plants segregated for yellow-dormant, and purple-viviparous kernels, which is also characteristic of vp1.

Most viviparous kernels on selfed ears of plants from purple kernels of the original segregating ear, as well as those from selfs of outcrosses of such plants to a purple aleurone stock, have lost mutability (i.e., show no spotting). The few kernels which showed mutability had fewer than 0.2 spots/mm². We are currently trying to restore mutability by crossing heterozygous vp1-Mum1 stable plants to purple Mutator stocks.

Philip Stinard
 
 

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