Genetics of Gracilaria tikvahiae (Rhodophyceae). IX: Some Properties of Agars Extracted from Morphological Mutants

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Abstract
Morphological mutants of G. tikvahiae were compared with wild type plants for selected aspects of frond composition and agar quality. Comparisons were for individual female clones of each plant type. Three kinds of changes in agar characteristics were found: an agar from mutant MP-40 with a gel strength that greatly surpassed wild type both in native and alkali-modified form, a weakly gelling agar from mutants such as MP-61, and an agar from mutant MP-44 that was comparable in strength to wild type in native form but which responded less to alkali, the modified form being only half as strong as the corresponding gels from wild plants. Mutant MP-40 was examined briefly to see how the agar phenotype responded to different levels of N feeding. Its agar quality decreased under severely limiting N conditions, a response similar to that reported by others for wild plants. [Although the need to get improved clones is recognized, genetic improvement of cultivated Gracilaria has not yet been reported.].