CYTOLOGICAL DIPLOIDIZATION IN THE CULTIVATED OCTOPLOID STRAWBERRY FRAGARIA × ANANASSA

Abstract

Chromosome pairing during meiosis was studied in 9 cultivated genotypes and 32 seedlings produced by selfing several different genotypes of the octoploid strawberry Fragaria × ananassa Duch. (2n = 8x = 56). In all genotypes studied the chromosomes paired exclusively as bivalents indicating cytological diploidization. Meiotic studies of one of the S1 plants, which was completely sterile, revealed that the chromosomes were paired at pachytene but desynapsed during diplotene, so that very little bivalent association was observed in late prophase of meiosis. The pairing in the F. × ananassa × F. nubicola pentaploid hybrids showed an average of 11.6 bivalents per PMC and frequent multivalent formation. There is thus an indication of residual homology between the ancestral genomes of the octoploid strawberry.