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The mechanism of sex determination in Rumex acetosella

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Summary

Cytogenetic studies were made with particular emphasis on the sex-determining mechanism in Rumex acetosella (6 x = 42) and its hybrids (F 1, F 2, BC 1 and BC 2) with R. hastatulus (synthetic 4 x = 16 = 4 A +4 X = ♀ and 4 x = 18 = 4 A + 2 (X Y 1 Y 2) = ♂). Rumex acetosella was almost strictly dioecious with 50∶50 male and female. Breeding tests revealed that the males were heterogametic. The longest chromosomes (S), usually two, are the sex chromosomes of this hexaploid species. The S chromosomes are homomorphic in both male and female. The sex chromosome: autosome ratios, and the strong epistatic male effect of the S M chromosome in the polyploid dioecious species and in the hybrids, are evidence of an X/Y Melandrium type sex-determining mechanism controlled by a single pair of homomorphic sex chromosomes. Thus, the sex chromosome formula of the males was S F S M and that of females was S F S F. The present approach is a new method for resolving the sex-determining mechanism in a dioecious species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Plant Sciences, Institute of Advanced Studies, Meerut University, Meerut, India

    R. B. Singh & Ben W. Smith (Professor of Genetics)

  2. North Carolina State University, 27607, Raleigh, N. C., USA

    Ben W. Smith (Professor of Genetics)

Authors
  1. R. B. Singh
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  2. Ben W. Smith
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Communicated by M. S. Swaminathan

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Singh, R.B., Smith, B.W. The mechanism of sex determination in Rumex acetosella . Theoret. Appl. Genetics 41, 360–364 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00277336

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00277336

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