Colchicine-induced heritable modification of chiasma frequency and distribution in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)

Abstract

One-week-old seedlings of inbred lines of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) were given a 3-h period of treatment with 0.2% colchicine, and this treatment was found to have heritable effects on chromosome behaviour at meiosis. The mean pollen mother cell chiasma frequency was reduced, and there was a corresponding increase in the number of univalents per cell and also changes in cell and bivalent variances. Patterns of chiasma distribution within bivalents were also modified. The effects were seen in the generation in which the treatment was given and they were also observed in the following sexual generation.Key words: chiasmata, colchicine, Lolium perenne, meiosis, perennial ryegrass.