Cytological Studies on Unreduced Gamete Formation of Strawberries (Fragaria)

A diploid strawberry (Fragaria vesca L. ) which can naturally produce unreduced gametes (2n pollen) and doubled-unreduced gametes (4n pollen) was used to study the cytological mechanism of 2n and 4n gamete formation. The result showed that the formation of 2n gamete was mainly due to the abnormal orientation of spindles at metaphase Ⅱ. The normal orientation of two spindles at metaphase Ⅱ was perpendicular to each other, which led to tetrad formation at the end of meiosis. Two kinds of abnormal orientation of metaphase Ⅱ spindles, i.e. parallel spindles and triangle spindles, were observed. Of the parallel spindles, the 4group chromosomes were distributed to 2 poles and formed a dyad which formed two 2n pollen grains furtheriy. Of the triangle spindles, the 4 group chromosomes were distributed to 3 poles and formed a triad which formed one 2n pollen grain and two n pollen grains. In addition, a few very big pollen grains (4n pollen)which probably due to the fusion of the tetrad were found.