Cyto-morphological evidence for segmental allopolyploid origin of Teasle gourd (Momordica subangulata subsp. renigera)

• Published in: Euphytica 2010-11, Vol.176 (1), p.79-85
• Main Authors: Bharathi, L. K, Vinod, Munshi, A. D, Behera, T. K, Shanti-Chandrashekaran, Kattukunnel, J. J, Das, A. B, Vishalnath
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; allopolyploidy; Analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Botany; Cytogenetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Generalities. Genetics. Plant material; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; genome; Genomics; gourds; Hybridization; Hybrids; Interspecific and intergeneric hybridization, introgressions; interspecific hybridization; Life Sciences; metaphase; Momordica; Momordica cochinchinensis; Momordica doica; Momordica subangulata; Plant breeding: fundamental aspects and methodology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; plant morphology; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Taxonomy; triploidy
• ISSN: 0014-2336; 1573-5060
• DOI: 10.1007/s10681-010-0214-z

Teasle gourd [Momordica subangulata Blume subsp. renigera (G. Don) de Wilde, 2n = 56] exhibits morphological characters found in both M. dioica (2n = 28) and M. cochinchinensis (2n = 28). Morphological analysis of M. subangulata subsp. renigera suggests an allopolyploid origin. We present evidence elucidating the genomic relationships between M. dioica, M. cochinchinensis and M. subangulata subsp. renigera. A triploid M. dioica × M. subangulata subsp. renigera hybrid had an average of 12.76 bivalents, 13.84 univalents and 0.88 trivalents at metaphase I, while the M. cochinchinensis × M. subangulata subsp. renigera hybrid had an average of 13.08 bivalents, 12.96 univalents and 0.96 trivalents. F₁ hybrids of the two diploid species (M. dioica × M. cochinchinensis) showed an average of 9.12 bivalents and 9.76 univalents, suggesting that the genomes of these species are only partially homologous. A higher number of bivalents in the triploid hybrids suggests that M. subangulata subsp. renigera is a segmental allopolyploid of M. dioica and M. cochinchinensis and that its genomes have diverged from the parental genomes.