INHERITANCE OF LEAF PEROXIDASES IN OATS

Abstract

Starch gel electrophoresis of leaves of diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid wild species as well as hexaploid cultivars and mutants of oats (Avena) disclosed several faint and three stable peroxidase bands, designated F, M, and S, in the anodal gel. The F band was observed only in the hexaploids, the M band in some diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid species, and the S band in some diploid and tetraploid species. The inheritance was studied of banding patterns F+M, F, M, and Null observed in the cultivars. The hybrids had only the combined bands of both parents, as did the mixture of leaf juices. Genetic studies in the F1and F2populations of crosses among parents differing in the four banding patterns revealed that band F was controlled by a dominant gene and band M by one or two independent genes. A segregation ratio of 11F+M:4M:1F in the F2populations of a cross between F × M parents indicated that one of the genes controlling band M is allelic to and codominant with the gene controlling band F.