ploidy

Jan Schlauer (zxmsl01@student.uni-tuebingen.de)
Wed, 11 Jan 1995 12:42:35 +0100

Terry,

>Has anyone produced any plants by anther culture? I left out the
>"haploid" because I wasn't sure if CP's come in different ploidy
>levels besides diploid. Anyone set me straight?

There are some polyploid series in _Pinguicula_, e.g. x=8: 2x=2n=16
_P.corsica_ 4x=2n=32
_P.grandiflora_/_P.longifolia_/_P.balcanica_/_P.leptoceras_ etc.
8x=2n=64 _P.vulgaris_

BTW: Michael, do you have a reference for _P.vulgaris_ with 2n= other than 64?

In the collective species _P.crystallina_ (incl. _P.hirtiflora_),
individuals with 2n=24, 32, and 48 have been found (without morphological
or geographic correlation to chromosome numbers).

The strangest cp known in this respect is _Drosera lanata_ with 19 somatic
chromosomes (hypertriploid 3x + 1, with x=6, which is the usual basic
number in the _D.petiolaris_ complex). Meiosis must be funny (or omitted at
all) in this species, as it obviously does form viable seed (by apomixis?).

To answer your initial question: I do not know of any attempt at anther
culture in cp (OK, this is not really an answer).

Kind regards
Jan