Abstract
In a population of Capsicum frutescens cultivar Tabasco one desynaptic plant was isolated. Meiotic studies in the normal and the desynaptic showed reduced chiasma frequency and pollen fertility in the desynaptic. Chromosome paring at pachytene was normal and complete in the normal sibs. While it was partial in the desynaptic. Twelve bivalents were regularly formed both at diakinesis and metaphase I in the normal, while univalents ranging from 12-24 were recorded at the corresponding stages in the desynaptic. At anaphase I the chromosome segregation was regular (12:12) in the normal sibs and irregular in the desynaptic. It is presumed that desynapsis in Capsicum frutescens may have been due to a spontaneous gene mutation.
