Degree Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
1987
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Genetics
Abstract
Nearly a decade ago, Dr. Donald S. Robertson first described the Mutator system in Zea mays. Robertson's Mutator maize lines contain a highly mutagenic transposable element system. Mutator induces new germinal mutation at a frequency 50-fold above the background level. Approximately 40% of the mutants induced are somatically unstable (mutable). Transposable elements, called Mu elements, have been implicated in the mutagenic activity of Mutator;Genetic analyses of an inbred lineage of a mutable, Mutator -induced mutant of A1, a1-Mum2 were carried out. Conditions which led to the loss of somatic mutability and germinal activity were investigated. A putative functional change in Mutator regulation is described;Molecular analyses of the Mutator transposable elements present in the a1-Mum2 inbred lineage was conducted. The types of Mu elements present in this line, their modification state, and copy number are related to the regulation of the phenomena, somatic mutability and germinal activity;A survey of maize lines for the presence of a mutator activity similar to that of Robertson's Mutator system was performed. Additionally, maize lines from diverse geographic origins were analyzed by Southern hybridization techniques for the presence of Mu -homologous DNA sequences. The origin of Robertson's Mutator system is considered in the light of these results.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-10656
Publisher
Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/
Copyright Owner
Bradley Allen Roth
Copyright Date
1987
Language
en
Proquest ID
AAI8721928
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
188 pages
Recommended Citation
Roth, Bradley Allen, "Robertson's Mutator System in maize: studies on the regulation of activity and the prevalence of Mu1-homologous DNA sequences in diverse lines of maize " (1987). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 11726.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/11726
