Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
Establishment of a correlation between pistil size and female gametophyte developmental stages in apomictic and sexual lines of Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone
Singh Heisnam Dinesh, Sharma Monika, Mohapatra Priyanka, Goel Shailendra, Jagannath Arun, Agarwal Manu
Research Articles | Published: 17 February, 2022
Online ISSN : 2229-4473.
Website:www.vegetosindia.org
Pub Email: contact@vegetosindia.org
First Page: 775
Last Page: 781
Views: 432
Keywords:
Apomixis, Breeding, Female gametophyte, Pistil, Reproduction
Abstract
Apomixis is a unique reproductive strategy that leads to seed production without reductional division and gametic fusion. In order to unravel the regulatory components unique to apomictic lines, apomixis often requires a comparative study between apomictic and its sexual counterpart. Such studies require staging and harvesting of the pistil, which are the apparent choice of tissue for understanding the expression of apomictic trait. The collection and staging of the female tissue require a lot of effort and time, due to which the whole inflorescence is often used instead of harvesting individual pistils. The present study attempts to simplify the procedure of pistil collection by correlating its length with female developmental stages between sexual and apomictic lines of pearl millet. The female development stages in the pistil were confirmed through Differential Interference Contrast microscopy, providing a reliable method for the collection of tissue, saving time and effort. The tissue was kept in liquid nitrogen during collection and later stored at − 80 °C up to a year. The tissue provided excellent quality RNA, which can be used for comparative analysis between sexual and apomictic lines.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) grant by the Government of India (Sanction No. BT/PR10696/AGR/36/589/2008). We are also thankful to the University of Delhi, Delhi, India, for IOE grant (Sanction No. IoE/2021/12/FRP). Heisnam Dinesh Singh and Monika Sharma are thankful to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, for their Research fellowships. Priyanka Mohapatra is thankful for the (INSPIRE) fellowship provided by the Department of Science and Technology.
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