Meiotic Studies and Cytomixis in Pollen Mother Cells of Salvia przewalskii Maxim.

抄録

Salvia przewalskii Maxim., which possesses high content of lipid-soluble tanshinones in roots, is a valuable medicinal plant in China. Its detailed meiotic analysis from pollen mother cells (PMCs) to tetrad was carried out for the first time. Most of the PMCs showed a regular meiotic behavior and regular chromosome segregation. Sixteen bivalents were observed in most PMCs at metaphase I, indicating that S. przewalskii was a species with chromosome number of 2n=32. However, a high-frequency of cytomixis, and transferring of chromatin or chromosome materials between adjacent pollen mother cells through cytomictic channels, were observed in PMCs at early prophase I, but rather rarely in meiosis II. Other meiotic abnormalities such as chromatin bridges, laggards, and micronucleus at low frequency were also detected in few PMCs at meiosis I and II.