EVOLUTION IN THE GENUSAVENA: INHERITANCE OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF RIBULOSE DIPHOSPHATE CARBOXYLASE

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Abstract
Disc electrophoresis of ribulose diphosphate carboxylases from Avena species in polyacrylamide gels of varying concentrations reveals the presence of two distinct forms of the enzyme. One migrates faster than the other and is found exclusively in species possessing the A genome. The other is confined to the C genome species (A. pilosa, A. ventricosa, A. clauda). The association of another characteristic of this enzyme (presence of stromacentres in the chloroplasts) with the A genome was reported previously. Observations on the recently described species A. prostrata, A. canariensis, A. damascena, and A. murphyi show that they all possess stromacentres, confirming reports that they all contain the A genome. Examination of amphiploid hybrids (from crosses between various diploid species and A. sativa) has shown that the mobility character is inherited maternally, and is located on the chloroplast genome. All these hybrids have the A genome and all have stromacentres. The results are discussed in the light of recent findings on the structure and synthesis of this enzyme. Consideration of the species distribution of the different forms of carboxylase places certain restrictions on the possible evolutionary paths from diploids to tetraploids and hexaploids.

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