Albinism Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Albinism, including details on pigmentation, genetic trait, heritability.

Barley anther culture: effects of annual cycle and spike position on microspore embryogenesis and albinism.

Jacquard C, Asakaviciute R, Hamalian AM, Sangwan RS, Devaux P, Clément C

Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, UFR Sciences, Stress Défenses et Reproduction des Plantes, 51687, Reims Cedex 2, France.

The effect of donor plants annual cycle and anther/spike position on the production of microspore-derived plants and albinism were studied. We used the winter cv. Igri and the spring cv. Cork, known to respond similarly in anther culture but to produce 78% and 2% of green plants, respectively. In both cvs. the number of microspore-derived plants was significantly higher when the anthers were collected from January to July than from August to December. However, during this period the proportion of albino plants was not altered. Conversely, the anther response decreased from 76.6 to 31.5% in Igri and from 58.8 to 32.0% in Cork when the donor spike originates from the main shoot or the fourth tiller. Significantly, anthers collected from spike of the second tiller enabled us to drastically increase the proportion of regenerated green plantlets, by 16% in Igri and 1800% in Cork.

Published 20 April 2006 in Plant Cell Rep, 25(5): 375-81.
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