2010 Volume 5 Issue 3 Pages 61-64
Presently, meiotic studies have been carried out on five accessions of Clematis grata collected from different areas of Western Himalayas as localities selected in Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and Uttarakhand. The cytomixis is observed from early prophase-I upto tetrad stage of meiosis. The percentage of PMC's (pollen mother cells) involved in chromatin transfer is quite high and may involve group of PMC's. PMC's with hypo- and hyper-ploid chromosome numbers are also observed. Cytomixis and other meiotic abnormalities are reported for the first time in this species and seem to be directly under genetic control. The meiotic abnormalities include the presence of unoriented bivalents at metaphase I, laggards and chromatin bridges at anaphases and telophases. The frequency of chromatin stickiness is seen to be very high. Microsporogensis is abnormal with the formation of micronuclei and production of heterogenous sized fertile pollen grains with reduced pollen fertility. The occurrence of B-chromosomes in some of the PMC's in one of the accessions makes its first report for the species.
