Inheritance of Major Spathe Colors in Anthurium andraeanum Hort. Is Determined by Three Major Genes

Abstract

The inheritance of spathe color in anthurium (Anthurium andraeanum Hort.) was studied in 77 crosses involving 59 parental genotypes. The progeny segregation into “colored : white” did not fit the genetic model proposed by Kamemoto et al. (1988), but fit a duplicate recessive epistasis model involving genes O and R, in which either O or R or both in the recessive form would result in white-spathed progeny. The progeny segregation into red or orange group was in agreement with the Kamemoto et al. (1988) model and is determined by the status of the M gene. The dosage effect of particularly the R gene accounted for the differentiation of reds from pinks and oranges from corals. Putative roles for the three genes (M, O, and R) in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway are postulated.