The effect of colchicine on mitoses in root meristem of diploid and polyploid forms of rye and wheat

Abstract

The comparative study has been made of the reaction of diploid and polyploidy forms on colchicine. Diploid and artificially induced tetraploid forms of rye as well as different species of wheat — the natural polyploid row (2n = 14, 2n = 28, 2n = 42) —have been studied. It has been found that artificially obtained polyploid forms demonstrate more significant reaction on colchicine, and thus more significant "polyploid" specificity than the species of the natural polyploid row. It is possible that the difference is due to the long-time action of natural selection for the species of natural polyploid row and due to some changes in their genomes which resulted in uniform reaction of the species on changes in environment.