A putative donor of S-cytoplasm and its distribution among open-pollinated populations of onion

✍ Scribed by M. J. Havey

• Book ID: 104670851
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 825 KB
• Volume: 86
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0040-5752
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00223817

✦ Synopsis

Cytoplasmic-genic male-sterility systems are used to economically produce hybrid onion seed. Previous studies have indicated that the source of cytoplasmic male sterility discovered in 1925 by Jones (S-cytoplasm) may be an alien cytoplasm. Restriction enzyme analysis of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) revealed five polymorphisms between S and normal (N) fertile cytoplasms. S-cytoplasm was different from the Allium species closely related to the bulb onion, and cladistic estimates of phylogenies supported introduction from an unknown species. S-cytoplasm was identical for all polymorphisms in the cpDNA to 'Pran', a triploid viviparous onion. 'Pran' shares morphological characteristics with 'Italian Red 13-53', the single plant source of S-cytoplasm. Densiometric scans of autoradiograms revealed that 12 of 31 open-pollinated populations of onion possessed S-cytoplasm and that introgression may have occurred since the discovery of S-cytoplasm.