Sa. Stanko et Ag. Chetverikov, CHANGES IN MAIZE POLLEN CAROTINOIDS INDUC ED BY INTENSE DISCONTINUOUSWHITE-LIGHT AND THE PROBLEM OF MUTAGENESIS, Izvestia Akademii nauk SSSR. Seria biologiceskaa, (6), 1993, pp. 839-844
Prehybridization short-term illumination of maize pollen of the Mangel
sdorf tester (MT) by intense discontinuous white light (IDWL) with the
energy of 3x10(9) to 3x10(10) joule/m2 results in enhanced biosynthes
is, photooxidation, transformations and photosensitization of carotino
ids, ans formation of peroxide and hydroxide free radicals (FR). Photo
sensitized carotinoids activated gene expression, while FRs exert muta
genic effect. Hybridization of the IDWL-illuminated pollen caused appe
arance of ca. 5% TM with dominating untypical reccessive characters ne
ver observed earlier. Such hybridization introduce additional genotype
alterations without affecting significantly many practically useful p
roperties. Being the ecologically purest and the most natural factor f
or plants, photomutagenesis is a highly efficient, soft, and easily ac
cessible tool in genetic selection.