Induced mutations in Melilotus

Radiation induced mutants of sweet clover (Melilotus albus Desr.)

von

A. Micke

Vienna (Austria)

Between 1953 and 1974 several series of mutation induction experiments with sweet clover (Melilotus albus Desr.) were carried out at the Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Forschungstelle Neuhof/Giessen (1953-55) and at the Institut für Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenzüchtung der Universität Göttingen (1956-74) under guidance of ARNOLD SCHEIBE. The primary aim was the creation of non-bitter breeding stocksfor the development of cultivars of white sweet clover, suitable for European agriculture.

Such attempts had been undertaken in Germany already since the twenties of this century, primarily at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Züchtungsforschung Müncheberg upon the initiative of ERWIN BAUR, and after 1945 till about 1958 at the Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung Voldagsen (later at Köln-Vogelsang). For literature review and historical details see RUDORF 1943, 1959. The success of chemical mass selection 1928-30 by VON SENGBUSCH in finding spontaneous, simple inherited alkaloid-free lupin mutants (for review see HACKBARTH and TROLL 1959; GUSTAFSSON and GADD 1965) raised expectations to find glucosid-free sweet clover mutants in a similar way. Although other Melilotus species with low glucosid content had been identified and were used to achieve the goal through species hybridisation with embryo culture (GREENSHIELDS 1954), the expectations to find glucosid-free spontaneous mutants in Melilotus albus were not fulfilled. This failure was probably due to inadequate chemical screening techniques.

SCHEIBE and co-workers, therefore, started in 1953 a programme of experimental mutagenesis with sweet clover, at the same time also looking after the screening technique (MICKE, 1957). Besides some rather uncommon chemical mutagens (SCHEIBE and HÜLSMANN 1957, 1958), x-rays and thermal neutrons were employed as mutagens and numerous of induced mutants of different kind were detected (MICKE 1955, 1957b, 1958, 1959, 1961b, 1962a, b and c, 1965, 1966a and b, 1968, 1969b, 1991 and unpublished; SCHEIBE and MICKE 1967). In line with the principle aim of the programme to find non-bitter mutants, many published results concern biochemical and genetic aspects of the o-oxy-cinnamic acid glucosid, the compound from which the undesired coumarin derives through enzymatic hydrolysation (KAHNT 1962, 1963; KAHNT and SCHÖN 1962; MICKE 1957, 1962b; SCHÖN 1961, 1966), others concern more practical plant breeding aspects, particularly the use of induced mutants as hybrids (DANCS 1964; HÜLSMANN and MICKE 1961; MICKE 1961a, 1962/63, 1969a and c, 1974, 1975, 1976; PILLAI 1962; RÖMER 1973, 1974; RÖMER and MICKE 1974). Unfortunately, central-european agricultural interest in sweet clover declined and the programme was discontinued. Until then, 14 induced mutants had been studied and were described in detail (MICKE 1955, 1958, 1962a, 1962/63; SCHEIBE and MICKE 1967) and 83 other mutants had been mentioned in various publications (MICKE 1962b, 1969, 1976; RÖMER 1973; SCHÖN 1966) - see Table 1. The rest of the collection of more than 700 induced mutants was not further studied and no further details were published yet.

Primarily outside Europe, continued agricultural interest in Melilotus was reflected in crossbreeding programmes, resorting mainly to low-coumarin stocks, developed through hybridisation between the bitter species Melilotus albus and M. officinalis and the non-bitter species Melilotus dentatus (as the viability of such hybrids was extremely low, embryo in-vitro culture and embryo grafting had to be employed). In 1965, SMITH and GORZ reviewed sweet clover improvement worldwide and listed just 19 spontaneous mutant traits. Therefore, obviously encouraged by the success of our mutagenesis programme in Göttingen, around 1966 a project on chemical mutagenesis was undertaken at the University of Nebraska, using hydroxylamine, 2-aminopurine, 5-bromouracil and ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). Only EMS was found to be effective (KLEINHOFS et al. 1968) and results of genetic studies with 7 mutant traits (besides chlorophyll deficiencies) were published between 1969 and 1975 (GENGENBACH et al. 1996, 1970; RONNENKAMP et al. 1973, 1975).

Recently, however, mutations in Melilotus albus are looked for again with revived interest, this time because sweetclover appears suitable as a leguminous model species for molecular genetics and gene engineering (COOK et al. 1997). For this reason an effort is now made by us to list and describe the most interesting of the so far unpublished mutants observed in our Melilotus mutagenesis programme between 1953 and 1969 (Table 2).

Table 1: (still to be inserted)

Table 2: (still to be inserted)

Address of author: Prof. Dr. Alexander Micke, Salmannsdorfer Str.94, A-1190 Vienna (Austria)

Website: www.plantmutations.com

e-mail: alexander.micke@plantmutations.com

References

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Morphological, physiological and genetical effects of X-rays and thermal neutrons in Melilotus albus.

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Genetisch-züchterische Arbeiten beim weißen Steinklee.

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Unusual reaction of sweet clover seeds to x-radiation at different moisture contents and to post-irradiation storage.

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