Cytological studies in Saccharum and allied genera. I. Syncytes in certain clones of Saccharum and Erianthus
Price, S.
Cytologia 21(1): 21-37
1956
ISSN/ISBN: 0011-4545 Accession: 014003700
Large multinucleate and polyploid PMCs (syncytes) were observed in Erianthus arundinaceus, in Saccharum robustum, and in a S. sinense X spontaneum hybrid. Further development of these syncytes was traced as far as possible through meiosis. Syncytes previously reported in plants are classified according to whether they originate through errors in archesporial mitotic divisions, through the migration of a nucleus from one PMC into another, or through the fusion of PMCs. The syncytes described in Saccharum and Erianthus are considered to be cases of fusion syncyte formation. It is suggested that in Saccharum and its relatives, syncytes might lead to the formation of diploid pollen grains, and that they may play a part in the male transmission of 2n chromosome numbers.