RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 33 (3) September 2021, p. 436-446

OIL PALM MALE MEIOSIS PROFILING: FROM FIELD OBSERVATION TO CYTOGENETICS ANALYSIS

NORDIANA, H M N1; MADON, M1,2; SINGH, R1; SRITHARAN, K3; MUHAMMAD AZWAN, Z1 and ZAKI, N M1*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2020.0107
Received: 17 August 2020   Accepted: 21 October 2020   Published Online: 4 December 2020
ABSTRACT

Male meiosis is a principal process in microsporogenesis, important for male fertility and gamete viability in higher plants. This division ensures genome stability of sexually reproducing organisms and creates genome variation enabling diversity in a species. We present a structured profiling of male meiosis in the interspecific oil palm hybrid, Elaeis oleifera × Elaeis guineensis (OxG), for an in-depth understanding of the process. In the pollen mother cells (PMC), interaction between the parental genomes was observed in early prophase I, via genomic in situ hybridisation (GISH). At this meiosis I stage, the chromosome pairing revealed 16 complete bivalents, confirming the homologous pairing of each E. guineensis and E. oleifera chromosomes. Interestingly, we found that the E. guineensis and E. oleifera pollens had distinct morphologies, which represents another feature that differentiates the two species. This could also be used as a basis diagnostic tool to evaluate sterility in oil palm interspecific hybrids.

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1 Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

2 9, Jalan BM 5/12, Bandar Bukit Mahkota,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

3 United Plantations Berhad, Jenderata Estate,
36009 Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: hariza@mpob.gov.my