Induced translocation of an A and a B Chromosome in Lolium perenne

A reciprocal translocation between an A and a B chromosome was identified in the progeny of X-irradiated heads of Lolium perenne. The resulting centric BA fragment was found to have lost the capacity to undergo non-disjunction at pollen grain mitosis and consequently was transmitted in the normal mendelian manner. The synthesis of a stable population of 16 chromosome L. perenne plants is therefore a possibility. —Analysis of the effect of both the translocated B segment and the centric B fragment on meiosis in diploid L. temulentum x L. perenne hybrids showed that both parts are capable, to a certain extent at least, of suppressing homoeologous chromosome association at first metaphase.