Colchicine-induced variants in sunflower

Abstract

Seedlings of the F, sunflower hybrid between inbred lines AHA 232 (cytoplasmic male sterile, non-branched) and RHA 274 (male fertile, homozygous for dominant fertility restorer and recessive branching) were treated with 0.5 per cent colchicine in lanolin applied to the newly exposed growing point after separation of the cotyledons. Of the 100 treated seedlings 54 survived to produce flowers and 50 set at least some seed. Ten of the treated Fi plants exhibited the recessive characters, branching or male sterility, originally present in heterozygous condition. These plants were usually chimeras with two or more sectors. A further 15 treated Ft plants produced aberrant Fz segregation ratios at the loci governing recessive branching or male sterility, or obvious mutants for such characters as rust resistance, height and maturity. The present results are compared and contrasted with earlier studies of colchicine-induced variants in sorghum, flax and barley.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Dwarf mutations in grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.): origin, morphology, inheritance and linkage studies

“…According to him, mutagenic action of colchicine was not limited to a single locus of a chromosome but might affect mutations at random involving many genes probably on different chromosomes within that one plant resulting in large number of mutant phenotypes in a single plant as also exhibited in the present dwf1 in grass pea. Colchicine-induced mutants or variants were also recovered earlier in flax (Dirks et al 1956) and soybean (Downes and Marshall 1983).…”

Vigor and variation expressed by anther-derived doubled haploids of burley tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). I. Comparison of sexual and doubled-haploid populations

“…Substantial evidence suggests that colchicine treatment induces deleterious alterations in plant material (Dirk et al, 1956;DOWNES & MARSHALL, 1983;FRANZIE & ROSS, 1952;GILBERT & PATTERSON, 1965) and results from this study were consistent with this evidence. The CDH population differed significantly from the IVDH population for yield and percent alkaloid content (Table 1).…”

“…The existence of residual heterozygosity as an explanation has been contested for flue-cured tobacco (ARcIA et al, 1978;BROWN & WERNSMAN, 1982), but substantial evidence suggests that heterozygosity is present in inbred lines (EAST, 1935;GRIFFITH et al, 1955;JONES & MANN, 1958;LEGG & COLLINS, 1968;RUSSELL et al, 1963;SPRAGUE et al, 1960). The effect ofcolchicine treatment on doubled-haploid materials has never been fully addressed, although several studies have concluded that colchicine can produce mutations and deleterious changes in treated plant materials (DIRKS et al, 1956;DOWNES & MARSHALL, 1983;FRANZKE & Ross, 1952;GILBERT t~ PATTERSON, 1965). Recent evidence suggests that DNA amplification in the source nuclei of anther-derived haploids may be contributing to the undesirable qualities of these materials (DE PAEPE et al, 1982;DHILLON et al, 1983).…”

Colchicine mutagenesis is associated with substantial heritable variation in cotton

“…The production of genetic variants by colchicine treatment of apical meristems is similar to the generation of somaclonal mutants by cell culture (Larkin & Scowcroft, 1981 ;Downes & Marshall, 1983) but it is faster and requires no special equipment or expertise . The preliminary investigation reported here suggests that substantial amounts of heritable variation for quantitative characters of economic significance can be produced in cotton, even though no morphological differences were seen .…”

“…(1956) used the technique in flax, and Gilbert & Patterson (1965) in barley, although the latter authors were unsuccessful with wheat and oats . Most recently Downes & Marshall (1983) observed aberrant F2 segregation ratios from colchicine-treated hybrids of sunflowers . The colchicine technique is attractive to breeders for three reasons .…”