RE: colchicine
- To: "'hosta-open@mallorn.com'" <hosta-open@mallorn.com>
- Subject: RE: colchicine
- From: R* G* <r*@centrelab.com>
- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 07:51:55 -0500
> Thanks Rick--- But what is a diploid and a tetraploid? And
> their relationship
> to Hosta?
The "normal" number of chromosomes in a cell is called diploid (two sets).
Sperm or egg are haploid (one set).
Colchicine doubles the number of chromosomes, taking a cell from diploid to
tetraploid (four sets). It does this by interfering with the intracellular
"skeletal" mechanisms that normally cause the chromosomes to split and
separate during cell division.
H ventricosa is a natural tetraploid. This happens all the time during the
evolution of species.
In hemerocallis, the large heavy-textured flowers are almost invariably from
tetraploid plants. Will something similar happen with tet hostas? I don't
know.
Rick Grazzini
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