THE EFFECT OF GENES CONTROLLING DIFFERENT DEGREES OF HOMOEOLOGOUS PAIRING ON QUADRIVALENT FREQUENCY IN INDUCED AUTOTETRAPLOID LINES OF TRITICUM LONGISSIMUM

Different genotypes of Triticum longissimum are known to either promote or suppress chromosome pairing in crosses with polyploid wheats. Lines that promote homoeologous pairing are here designated as intermediate pairing lines, while those which have no such effect or suppress pairing are known as low pairing lines. To determine a possible effect of these genotypes on homologous pairing, tetraploidy was induced in both lines and chromosomal pairing was studied at first metaphase of meiosis. While the two induced autotetraploids did not differ in chiasma frequency or in the number of paired chromosomal arms, they differed significantly in multivalent frequency; the intermediate-pairing autotetraploid exhibited the same multivalent frequency as that expected on the basis of two telomeric initiation sites, while the low pairing autotetraploid exhibited a significantly lower frequency. It is assumed that in the autotetraploid the low pairing genotype does not affect meiotic pairing per se, but modifies the pattern of homologous association in a similar manner to that known in polyploids and caused by diploidization genes. It is speculated that the tendency for bivalent pairing in the low pairing autotetraploid is due to spatial separation of the four homologous chromosomes in somatic and premeiotic cells into two groups of two.