Normal microspore production after cell fusion in Brachiaria jubata (Gramineae)

• Main Authors: Andréa Beatriz Mendes-Bonato, Claudicéia Risso-Pascotto, Maria Suely Pagliarini, Cacilda Borges do Valle
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Genética 2003-12-01
• Series: Genetics and Molecular Biology
• Subjects: Brachiaria jubata; cell fusion; microsporogenesis; pollen fertility
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572003000400016

Cytogenetic studies were carried out on 22 accessions of Brachiaria jubata from the Embrapa Beef Cattle Brachiaria collection. One accession was diploid (2n = 2x = 18) and the remaining 21 were tetraploid (2n = 4x = 36). Among five tetraploid accessions, a specific and constant pattern of cell fusion involving only two microsporocytes was recorded. Meiosis proceeded normally from prophase I to the end, giving rise to an octad with normal microspores that developed into fertile pollen grains. Regular octad formation was possible because each cellular chromosome set was maintained in its proper domain, spindles were correctly positioned, and cytokinesis planes were formed in the correct places. Such behavior of meiosis in syncytes has never been reported in any other plant species.