Highly Unstable Translocations Induced Through Irradiation in Pisum

Abstract

The meiotic behaviour of two X-ray induced Pisum mutants was analysed which show a high degree of chain and ring formation as a consequence of a high number of translocations. The characteristic feature of both these mutants is that all the PMCs do not show the same type of configuration; on the contrary, a pattern of different configurations is present. Both the mutants display a similar meiotic behaviour but they differ considerably with regard to their seed production. In both cases, a kind of “repair mechanism” seems to become effective in different manner which leads to an unexpectedly high degree of fertility.