Inheritance of carotenoid pigmentation in flower color of chrysanthemum.

Abstract

Experiments were carried out to analyse the inheritance of the flower color, especially carotenoid pigmentation, in chrysanthemum. Such as determination can be performed easily by measuring the amount of light transmitted in fresh, intact petals, using spectrophotometry regardless of the presence of carotenoid pigments in the petals. Based on the results of the genetic background analysis of the inheritance of carotenoid pigmentation, chrysanthemum cultivars used in this experiment were classified into three groups. In the first group a heterozygous dominant inhibitor genes for carotenoid pigment biosynthesis was identified while in the second group no such dominant inhibitor gene was present and in the third group the gene constitution was complex and characterized by the presence of a heterozygous dominant inhibitor gene and heterozygous dominant gene for carotenoid pigmentation. The wild species, Chrysanthemum japonense, was different from the chrysanthemum cultivars used in this experiment in that species harboured a homozygous dominant inhibitor gene at least a single locus. Therefore, in all the F1 progenies derived from the crossing of this species with several varieties no plants with yellow flowers were observed. Moreover, it is suggested that a chimerical structure should be considered in analyses of the flower color inheritance.