Abstract
Extensive cytological studies into all stages of pollinial development in 10 diploid species of orchids belonging to the Arethuseae tribe revealed four possible mechanisms operating premeiotically and meiotically, resulting in the formation of polyploid spores in the form of monads, dyads and triads. The mechanisms involved are: (1) premeiotic disturbances resulting in tetraploid pollen mother cells; (2) faulty anaphase disjunction giving rise to restitution nuclei at both meiotic divisions; (3) failure to participate in meiosis I or meiosis II; and (4) co-orientation of the two spindles during metaphase II. Why fertile diploid species should possess elaborate pathways for the formation of such spores cannot be explained satisfactorily in view of the low frequencies of such spores formed and the absence of a euploid series in the four genera investigated. Nevertheless, these orchid genera, with high basic numbers, could be highly evolved polyploids and the regular formation of such spores could be viewed as a relic of their evolutionary past.
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Teoh, S.B. Polyploid spore formation in diploid orchid species. Genetica 63, 53–59 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137465
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137465