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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #327727
Title: Asynchronous meiosis in Cucumis hystrix-cucumber synthetic tetraploids resulting in low male fertility

Author
item HAN, YONGHUA - Xuzhou Normal University
item PAN, JUNSONG - University Of Wisconsin
item THAMMAPICHAI, PARADEE - University Of Wisconsin
item LI, ZONGYUN - Xuzhou Normal University
item Weng, Yiqun

Submitted to: The Crop Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/2016
Publication Date: 6/15/2016
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/63023
Citation: Han, Y., Pan, J., Thammapichai, P., Li, Z., Weng, Y. 2016. Asynchronous meiosis in Cucumis hystrix-cucumber synthetic tetraploids resulting in low male fertility. The Crop Journal. 4(4):275-279. doi: 10.1016/j.cj.2016.05.003.

Interpretive Summary: Interspecific hybridization and allopolyploidization contribute to the improvement of many important crops. Recently, we successfully developed an amphidiploid from interspecific cross between cucumber (Cucumis sativus, 2n = 2x = 14) and its relative C. hystrix-(2n = 2x =24) followed by chemical induction of chromosome doubling. The resulting allotetraploid, C. × hytivus was self-pollinated for three generations. We found that the fertility and seed setting of the amphidiploid plants was very low. In this study, we investigated the meiotic chromosome behavior in pollen mother cells with the aid of florescence in situ hybridization (FISH) aiming to understand the reasons of the low fertility and rate of seed setting in the amphidiploid plants. While homologous chromosome pairing seemed to be rather normal, chromosome laggards were common, which was caused primarily by asynchronous meiosis of chromosomes from the two donor genomes. We suggest that asynchronous meiotic rhythm between the two parental genomes is the main reason for the low fertility and low seed-set of the C. hystrix-cucumber amphidiploid plants.

Technical Abstract: Wide hybridization is an important tool for crop improvement. Recently, we successfully developed a synthetic allotetraploid from interspecific cross between cucumber and its relative Cucumis hystrix-(2n = 2x =24) followed by chemical induction of chromosome doubling. The resulting allotetraploid was self-pollinated for three generations. We found that the fertility and seed setting of the amphidiploid plants was very low. In this study, we investigated the meiotic chromosome behavior in pollen mother cells with the aid of florescence in situ hybridization (FISH) aiming to understand the reasons of the low fertility and rate of seed setting in the amphidiploid plants. While homologous chromosome pairing seemed to be rather normal, chromosome laggards were common, which was caused primarily by asynchronous meiosis of chromosomes from the two donor genomes. We suggest that asynchronous meiotic rhythm between the two parental genomes is the main reason for the low fertility and low seed-set of the C. hystrix-cucumber amphidiploid plants.