Cytoplasmic effects on pollen embryogenesis induction in wheat microspore culture

Three alloplasmic wheat lines and the donor of nuclear genome have been tes ted for their ability for inducing pollen embryogenesis in microspore cultu re. Cultivation with an initial density of 2 x 10(5) microspores per mi in C17 medium conditioned by young anther-derived embryoids was used to induce microspore cell division and the subsequent plant regeneration. Microspore viability after pre-treatment and during cultivation, cytoplasm reorganisa tion, frequency of microcalli and embryoids, the number of regenerants have been studied. Cytoplasmic effects during the first stages of pollen embryo genesis in isolated microspore culture were detected. Alloplasmic line (tur gidum) x M808 was the best genotype for all parameters studied. One way ana lysis of variance and determination of the genetic distance also exhibited cytoplasmic influence. It can be concluded that the cytoplasmic effects exi st at early stages of pollen embryogenesis induction in wheat microspore cu lture and they should be taken into account in investigations involving pol len embryogenesis induction.