Interspecific tetraploid hybrids between two forage grass species: sexual Paspalum plicatulum and apomictic P. guenoarum

The Plicatula group of the grass genus Paspalum contains about 30 species. Most are tetraploid and reproduce by apomixis, though some of them contain sexual diploid races. We crossed a sexual colchicine-induced autotetraploid plant of brownseed paspalum (Paspalum plicatulum Michx.) with apomictic te...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Aguilera, Patricia Mabel, Sartor, Maria Esperanza, Galdeano, Florencia, Espinoza, Francisco, Quarin, Camilo Luis
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2011
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/2953
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/2953
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Plicatula
Apomixis
Hybrids
Fcss
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4
Description
Summary:The Plicatula group of the grass genus Paspalum contains about 30 species. Most are tetraploid and reproduce by apomixis, though some of them contain sexual diploid races. We crossed a sexual colchicine-induced autotetraploid plant of brownseed paspalum (Paspalum plicatulum Michx.) with apomictic tetraploid P. guenoarum Arechav., also from the Plicatula group. Crossability was 35% and the progeny showed morphological characteristics intermediate to those of the parents but resembling more the male parent. The random amplifi ed polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis showed that the whole progeny amplifi ed bands that were specifi c of the male parent, confi rming its hybrid origin. Meiotic chromosome behavior of hybrids exhibited primarily bivalent and quadrivalent associations similar to those of the two parents. This suggests that natural tetraploid P. guenoarum shares the same basic chromosome set with that of autotetraploid P. plicatulum, and both species probably originate from the same ancestral species. Fourteen out of 23 hybrids reproduced only sexually, while nine were obligate or highly apomictic. Seed set ranged from 11 to 55% among the hybrids. Our results open the possibility of exchanging genes at the tetraploid level in breeding programs of P. plicatulum and P. guenoarum. This possibility is based on their rate of crossability, the degree of fertility among the hybrids, the segregation observed for the reproductive mode in the F1 progeny, and the very simple procedure fl ow cytometry seed screen (FCSS) used to determine the reproductive mode for each hybrid.