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Seed Incompatibility in Primula

Abstract

WHEN diploid and autotetraploid plants of Primula veris are artificially crossed reciprocally, fertilization occurs and seed is set, but the seed is bad and germination is nil; the same is true for Primula vulgaris and P. elatior. Similar seed incompatibility (as it may be called) between diploids and their colchicine-induced autotetraploids has been reported in several other genera of flowering plants, for example, Gossypium 1, and Galeopsis 2; it is associated with post-fertilization breakdown of the seed tissues, in particular the endosperm. On the other hand, in some genera, for example, Beta 3, the crosses are easily made and viable triploids can be produced in large numbers. The reasons for these different types of behaviour are not known, but they are probably connected with differences in the nature and mode of functioning of the tissues concerned in the nutrition and protection of the embryo; it is worth noting that these tissues (the endosperm and the maternal nucellus and endothelium) generally differ in genetic constitution both from the embryo and also from one another.

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VALENTINE, D., WOODELL, S. Seed Incompatibility in Primula . Nature 185, 778–779 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/185778b0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/185778b0

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