title: Locating a site on the maize B chromosome that controls preferential fertilization.
abstract: In maize, the B chromosome can undergo nondisjunction at the second pollen mitosis, producing sperm with two B chromosomes and sperm with zero B chromosomes. Preferential fertilization is the ability of the sperm carrying two B chromosomes to transmit more frequently to the embryo of a kernel than the sperm lacking the B chromosome. A translocation involving the B chromosome and chromosome 9, TB-9Sb, has been used to study preferential fertilization. The B-9 chromosome has the same properties of nondisjunction and preferential fertilization as the standard B chromosome. Deletion derivatives of B-9, which lack the centric heterochromatin and possibly some adjacent euchromatin, were tested for their ability to induce preferential fertilization. They were found to lack the capacity for preferential fertilization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. wrcarlsn@aol.com
authors.forename: Wayne R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Carlson
mesh_terms: D043171:Chromosomal Instability; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D032461:Chromosomes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D005306:Fertilization / Q000235:genetics*; D005808:Genes, Recessive; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics*