Seminar Announcement 

Department of Plant Agriculture  

Colloquium in Plant Genetics and Breeding: Polyploidy 

Date: Friday 6 March 2020
Time: 3pm
Location: CRSC 121B 

Title: Three's a Crowd: The Uses and Breeding of Triploid Plants

Name: Brock Anderson

Abstract: 

Triploids represent a unique group amongst polyploid plants. They exhibit typical polyploid traits such as increased size and vigour but tend to be sterile and seedless. Consequently, triploids play an important role in the production of many commercially important seedless fruits, including banana, watermelon, and citrus. Their sterility often requires that they be propagated vegetatively and presents a unique challenge to plant breeders seeking to develop improved varieties. This seminar will outline the meiotic origins of triploid sterility, natural and artificial methods of triploid production, and discuss agriculturally relevant cases of auto- and allotriploi fruit breeding. Unique environmental applications, including preventing the spread of invasive species, as well as instances of triploid evolution, will also be reviewed.  

References: 

Aleza, P., Juarez, J., Hernandez, M., Ollitrault, P., Navarro, L. 2012. Implementation of extensive citrus breeding programs based on 4x x 2x sexual hybridizations. Tree Gen. Gen. 8:1293-1306.
Heslop-Harrison, J. 2011. Genomics, banana breeding and superdomestication. Acta Hortic. 897:55-62. 
Sattler, M., Carvalho, C., Clarindo, W. 2016. The polyploidy and its key role in plant breeding. Planta. 243(2)281-296. 
Van Thang, B., Van Viet, N., Quang Nam, V., Than Tung, H., Tan Nhut, D. 2018. Triploid regeneration from immature endosperms of Melia azadazach. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. 133:351-357. 
Wang, X., Cheng, Z., Zhi, S., Xu, F. 2016. Breeding triploid plants: A review. Czech J. Plant Breed. 52(2):41-54. 
Zamariola, L., Lin Tiang, C., De Storm, N., Pawlowski, W., Geelen, DI. 2014. Chromosome segregation in plant meiosis. Front. Plant Sci. 5:1-19. 
Heslop-Harrison, J. 2011. Genomics, banana breeding and superdomestication. Acta Hortic. 897:55-62. 
Aleza, P., Juarez, J., Hernandez, M., Ollitrault, P., Navarro, L. 2012. Implementation of extensive citrus breeding programs based on 4x x 2x sexual hybridizations. Tree Gen. Gen. 8:1293-1306.