GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DIPLOIDS AND TETRAPLOIDS IN SERIES <i>EUBARBATAE</i> OF <i>AVENA</i>

Abstract

Diploid (2n = 14) and tetraploid (2n = 28) entities in series Eubarbatae of the genus Avena have been found to be genetically closely linked and are regarded as a single polyploid complex. At both ploidy levels the various morphological types are interfertile. Diploids and tetraploids are largely sympatric in their distribution and converge considerably in their ranges of morphological variation. Contacts between diploids and tetraploids are common and blurred morphological boundaries characterize mixed populations.The possibility of gene flow between diploids and tetraploids has been indicated by the behavior of triploid F 1 hybrids. Such hybrids have been found to be partially fertile. In their progeny a conspicuous restoration of fertility is apparent: numerous plants of the F 2 generation have been stabilized around the tetraploid level, few around the diploid level. In contact areas, triploids can be regarded as efficient bridges of gene flow between the two ploidy levels.The range of variation found at the tetraploid level is fully explicable by the variation present in the diploid races. Tetraploids are therefore regarded to have had an inter-varietal origin, i.e. have evolved from a single genome. They apparently represent an extreme case of bivalentization, where a full shift from an autotetraploid to an allotetraploid meiotic behavior had occurred. Meiotic behavior of the F 2 plants also indicate such origin.