Abstract
THE genus Lolium contains six species, all diploids with 14 chromosomes. The chromosomes of the inbreeding species are larger than those of the outbreeders and carry about 30% more DNA1. Although the range of variation in nuclear DNA amount is not large, in comparison with other genera of flowering plants2, Lolium is exceptional in that crosses between diploid species with widely different amounts of DNA produce F1 hybrids which set viable seed on backcrossing or, alternatively, by intercrossing to produce F2s. Segregation of nuclear DNA amount among hybrid derivatives by independent chromosome assortment and crossing over at meiosis in the F1 makes feasible a genetic assay of the effects of the differential interspecific DNA component. This report describes the segregation of nuclear DNA amounts among F2 progenies (seedlings 5–7 d old) from F2 hybrids between L. temulentum with high DNA and L. rigidum with low DNA content. F1 seeds were obtained by allowing the F1 hybrids to intercross in isolation from foreign pollen. From the DNA distribution in F2 it is possible to draw conclusions about the influence of the differential DNA component on gamete and zygote viability. The results are given in Fig. 1.
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GUPTA, P., REES, H. Tolerance of Lolium hybrids to quantitative variation in nuclear DNA. Nature 257, 587–588 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257587a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/257587a0
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