K. A. Timiriazev Inst. Plant Physiology

KRASNODAR, USSR

Krasnodar Research Institute of Agric.

Somaclonal variability in inbred line A188

--Y. I. Dolgykh, Y. V. Bolonkina, S. H. Larina and Z. B. Shamina

Regenerated plants (SC1) were produced in 2 to 14-month callus culture from immature embryos of inbred line A188. Plants from 2-month culture differed in several quantitative traits and manifested numerous morphological abnormalities: reduced plant height, changed number of kernel rows per ear, bisexual tassels, branching, chlorophyll deficiency, male sterility, etc. Only reduced plant height and increased number of kernel rows per ear were inherited in SC2 after self-pollination. The progeny of several morphologically normal SC1 plants segregated in branching, the number of kernel rows and anther color; the latter probably due to recessive mutation. Two regenerated plants have produced mosaicism in the number of midribs (1 to 3 in the same plant) and chlorophyll deficiency in SC2.

Plants from 10 to 14-month callus culture had low viability: about 80% died after placing into soil. All regenerated plants were sterile, mostly with shortened internodes and chlorophyll deficiency; frequency and expression of these abnormalities increased with the time of callus cultivation.

These results suggest that in vitro cultivation leads to genome destabilization which is apparent in several seed generations as epigenetic variations and mutations.

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