Dept of Botany, St. Teresa's College, Kochi, Kerala, India.
The determining causes of Sterility in three mutants of Impatiens sultani and one of I. beddomei, along with seven other taxa, for comparative purposes namely 7 species of Impatiens, 3 genera of Oxalidaceae and 4 genera of Commelinaceae were studied. In addition, data on UV profiles of stigmatic exudates of 26 plants belonging 5 families were generated. The mutants are characterized by flower colour variations being pink, crimson, magenta and orange. The sterility variations in the mutants are noticeable, the ‘magenta’ being most fertile arid the ‘pink’ being almost totally sterile. A wide spectrum of aberrations such as persistent cytomixis, dysynapsis, unequal separation of chromosomes, nuclear, degeneration, abnormal pollen mitoses etc. were observed. Aamong the significant findings, mention may be made of (i) the association of heteromorphic pair of chromosomes and male stetility (ii) the arrest of pollen mitosis at metaphase of generative nucleus, which passes into the pollen tube to complete the division and (iii) correlation of altered biochemical pathways of flavanovid synthesis and sterility. It is interesting to record that UV absorption profiles are constant and heavy, bearing in the region of 220–250 nm in all mutants. Modern Methods like barcoding could reveal information on taxonomic, and evolutionary lineage of plant taxa.
