DIVERSE RATIOS OF MUTATIONS TO CHROMOSOME ABERRATIONS IN BARLEY TREATED WITH DIETHYL SULFATE AND GAMMA RAYS

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Abstract
Treatment with a diethyl sulfate solution caused injury to barley seeds, but the injury differed from that caused by radiation in that the characteristic leaf flecking of M1 seedlings was not observed. The relative absence of leaf flecking appeared to be correlated with the observed low frequency of chromosome structural changes at the first mitosis in treated seeds and microsporocytes of M1 plants. In contrast, radiation treatments produced abundant chromosome structural damage which could be measured at both stages of plant growth. Moreover, the semi-sterility of M1 spikes of diethyl-sulfate-treated barley could not be accounted for on the basis of induced chromosome interchanges. In addition, it was found that diethyl sulfate treatments induced a high frequency of mutations, and further investigation revealed that the spectrum of mutation types appeared to be different for the two mutagenic agents being compared. The distinct lack of association of chromosome structual aberrations with mutations for a highly effective mutagenic agent has broad fundamental as well as practical implications.

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