AGRICULTURE (PAPER II)

Unit-9. CELL BIOLOGY & GENETICS

Unit-10. PLANT BREEDING
Unit-11. SEED PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY
Unit-12. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Unit-13. HORTICULTURE AND LAND SCAPING
Unit-14. PLANT PROTECTION TECHNIQUES
Unit-15. FOOD PRODUCTION AND NUTRITION MANAGEMENT

Unit-9 CELL BIOLOGY & GENETICS Lecture No.

9.1 Cell structure, function and cell cycle.
9.2 Synthesis, structure and function of genetic material.
9.3 Laws of heredity.
9.4 Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations
9.5 Linkage and cross-over, and their significance in recombination breeding.
9.6 Polyploidy, euploids and aneuploids.
9.7 Mutations - and their role in crop improvement.
9.8 Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their application in crop improvement.
9.9 Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited characters
9.7 MUTATIONS - AND THEIR ROLE IN CROP IMPROVEMENT.
• Mutation in a broad sense include all those heritable changes which
alter the phenotype of an individual.
• Thus, mutation can be defined as a sudden heritable change in the
character of an organism which is not due to either segregation
or recombination.
• The term mutation was first used by Hugo de Vries to describe the
sudden phenotypic changes which were heritable, while working with
Oenothera lamarckiana.
• However, the systematic studies on mutations were started in 1910
by T.H. Morgan who used Drosophila melanogaster for his studies.
• In 1927, H.J. Muller demonstrated for the first time the artificial
induction of mutations by using x-rays in Drosophila.
Key Terminology
•Muton: The smallest unit of gene capable of undergoing mutation and
it is represented by a nucleotide.
•Mutator gene: A gene which causes another gene or genes to undergo
spontaneous mutation.
•Mutable genes: Genes which show very high rates of mutation as
compared to other genes.
•Mutant: An organism or cell showing a mutant phenotype due to
mutant allele of a gene.
•Mutagen: A physical or chemical agent which induces mutation.
•Hot spots: Highly mutable sites with in a gene.
•Gene mutations or point mutations: The changes which alter the
chemical structure of a gene at molecular level.
Classification of mutations: Mutations can be classified in several
ways.
[Link] on direction of mutations:
• Forward mutation: Any change from wild type allele to mutant
allele
• Backward mutation or reverse mutation: A change from mutant
allele to wild type
Forward mutation Backward mutation or reverse mutation:
• Forward mutation is the mutation • Reverse mutation, also called backward mutation, is the
that changes wild type allele into a mutation that reverses the forward mutation. In other words, it
detrimental allele. is the mutation that changes mutant into wild type allele or
• The common phenotype seen in phenotype.
natural population is usually called • Thus, reverse mutation converts the aberrant state of a gene
a wild type phenotype. back to the normal or wild type state.
• When it alters into a mutant or a • When the original nucleotide sequence of the gene is restored
different phenotype, it is called by the reverse mutation, it is known as a true revertant, but, it
forward mutation. occurs rarely.
• Forward mutation confers a different • However, it restores the normal function of the gene, the
phenotype than wild type phenotype. normal protein or the normal phenotype. In many reverse
• Though there are mutations, the rate mutations, the phenotype is reversed into the wild type
of forward mutation is very low, and phenotype.
it is around 10-8 per generations. • Moreover, reverse mutations are likely to occur at a lower rate
than forward mutations.
• In genetics, reverse mutation tests are useful in identifying DNA
repair genes.
[Link] on source / cause of mutations:
• Spontaneous mutation: Mutation that occur naturally
• Induced mutation: Mutation that originates in response to mutagenic treatment.

[Link] on tissue of origin:

• Somatic mutation: A mutation in somatic tissue
• Germinal mutation: A mutation in germline cells or in reproductive tissues
[Link] on effect on survival:
• Lethal mutation: Mutation which kills the individual that carries it. (survival 0%)
• Sub-lethal mutation: When mortality is more than 50% of individuals that carry mutation
• Sub-vital mutation: When mortality is less than 50% of individual that carry
mutation.
• Vital mutation: When all the mutant individuals survive (survival-100%)
[Link] on trait or character effected:
• Morphological mutation: A mutation that alters the morphological
features of an individual
• Biochemical mutation: A mutation that alters the biochemical
function of an individual.
[Link] on visibility or quantum of morphological effect
produced:

• Macro-mutations: Produce a distinct morphological change in

phenotype (which can be detected easily without any confusion due
to environmental effects) Generally found in qualitative characters.
Eg: colour of flowers, height of plant etc.
• Micro-mutations: Mutations with invisible phenotypic changes,
(which can be easily confused with effects produced due to
environment). Generally observed in quantitative characters.
[Link] on the site of mutation or on cytological basis:
• Chromosomal mutations: Mutations associated with detectable
changes in either chromosome number or structure.
• Gene or point mutations: Mutations produced by alterations in
base sequences of concerned genes.
• Cytoplasmic mutations: Mutations associated with the changes in
chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
Base substitution: When a single base in a DNA molecule is replaced by
another base it is known as base substitution. This can be of two types.
a) Transition: Replacement of a purine by another purine or a pyrimidine
by another pyrimidine. (or) The substitution of a purine by another
purine or of a pyrimidine by another pyrimidine base in DNA or RNA is
known as transition. (A G or C T)
b) Transversion: Replacement of a purine by a purimidine and vice
versa. (or) The substitution of a purine by a pyrimidine or of a
pyrimidine by a purine in DNA or RNA is known as transversion. (A or G
C or T or U)
Frameshift mutations:
The mutations which arise due to addition or deletion of nucleotides
in mRNA are known as frameshift mutations, because the reading frame
of base triplets (codons) beyond the point of addition or deletion is
altered as a consequence of such mutations.
Base deletion: In base deletion, one or more bases are altogether
deleted
Base addition: There is insertion of one or more bases.
If the number of bases added or deleted is not a multiple of three, a
frameshift mutation is obtained, as the reading frame in such case is
shifted from the point of addition or deletion onwards.
Hence, in a frameshift mutation, all the amino acids of a
polypeptide chain located beyond the site of mutation are substituted
/ altered.
Characteristic features of mutations:
• Mutations are mostly recessive and very rarely dominant.
• Most mutations have harmful effects and very few (less than 0.1 %)
are beneficial.
• Mutations may be due to a change in a gene, a group of genes or in
entire chromosome.
• If gene mutations are not lethal, the mutant individuals may survive.
• However, chromosomal mutations are generally lethal and such
mutants do not survive.
• If mutation occur at both loci simultaneously, the mutants can be
identified in M1 generation.
• However, if it is restricted to one locus only, (dominant to recessive) the
effect can be seen only in M2 generation.
Macro-mutations are visible and can be easily identified, while micro -
mutations cannot be seen with naked eye and need special statistical tests
(or statistical analysis).
• Many of the mutants show sterility.
• Most mutants are of negative selection value.
• Mutation for altogether new character generally does not occur.
• Mutations are random i.e. they can occur in any tissue or cell of an
organism. However, some genes show higher mutation rate than others.
• Mutations can be sectorial. The branches arising from mutated sector
show mutant characters.
• Mutations are recurrent i.e. the same mutation may occur again and
again.
• Induced mutations commonly show pleiotropy often due mutation in
closely linked genes.
Spontaneous mutations:
• Spontaneous mutations occur naturally without any apparent cause.
• There are two possible sources of origin of these mutations.
• Due to error during DNA replication.
• Due to mutagenic effect of natural environment Eg: UV rays from
sunlight
The rate of spontaneous mutations is very low. 1 in 10 lakhs i.e. 10-6.
But different genes may show considerably different mutation rates.
In crop plants some varieties were developed through spontaneous
mutations. They are

Sr. Crop Variety

1 Rice GEB-24, Dee-Geo-Woo-Gen
2 Wheat Norin
3 Groundnut TMV-10

4 Sorghum Co-4 (coimbatore 4)

II. Induced mutations:
• Mutations can be induced artificially through treatment with either
physical or chemical mutagens.
• The exploitation of induced mutations for crop improvement is called
mutation breeding.
• The rate of induced mutations is very high. The induced mutations did
not differ from spontaneous mutations in expression.
• Examples of popular induced mutants in crop plants are:
Crop Mutant variety Original variety Mutagen
[Link] Jagannath T-141 X-rays
Mahsuri mutant Mahsuri, G-rays
[Link] Sharbati sonara Sonara 64 UV rays
NP-836 NP-799 x rays
[Link] Beans Pusa Parvati Wax podded x-rays
Pusa Lal Meeruti Meeruti x-rays
[Link] S-12 Sioux G-rays
[Link] Aruna HC-6 Thermal
neutrons
[Link] MCU 7 1143 EE x-rays
MCU 10 MCU 4 G-rays
Artificial induction of mutations: Mutations can be induced artificially
using
[Link] mutagens: Include various types of radiations, viz., x-rays,
x-rays, a-rays, ß-rays, fast neutrons, thermal or slow neutrons,
UV rays etc. The physical mutagens are classified into
• Ionizing radiations: They work through the release of ions. They
have deep penetrating capacity. Eg: x-rays, x-rays, a -particles etc.
• Non-ionizing radiations: They function through excitation and have
a very low penetrating capacity. They are used for studies on bacteria
and viruses. Eg : UV rays.
Sources of physical mutagens:
• Gamma garden Gamma green house
• Vertical gamma irradiation facility
• Horizontal gamma irradiation facility X-ray machine
• Isotopes
• Small portable irradiators, accelerators and cyclotrons Nuclear
reactors
2. Chemical mutagens: These can be divided into four groups.
a) Alkylating agents:
• This is the most powerful group of mutagens. These are the
chemicals which are mainly used to induce mutations in cultivated
plants. They induce mutations especially transitions and transversions
by adding an alkyl group (either ethyl or methyl) at various positions in
DNA.
• Alkylation produces mutation by changing hydrogen bonding in various
ways. Eg: Dimethyl sulphonate (DMS), Ethyl methane sulphonate
(EMS),
b) Base analogues:
• These are chemicals which are very similar to DNA bases, such
chemicals are sometimes incorporated in DNA in place of normal bases
during replication.
• Thus, they can cause mutation by wrong base pairing. An incorrect base
pairing results in transitions or transversions after DNA replication. Eg:
5– bromouracil, 3-bromodeoxy uridine, 2 -amino purine.
c) Antibiotics:
• A number of antibiotics like mitomycin and streptomycin have been
found to possess chromosome breaking properties.
• Their usefulness for practical purposes is very limited.
d) Acridine dyes:
• Acridine dyes Eg: proflavin, acriflavin, acridine orange, etc. are very
effective mutagens. These are positively charged and they insert
themselves between two base pairs of DNA.
• This is known as intercalation.
• Replication of intercalated DNA molecules results in addition or deletion
of one or few base pairs which produces frame shift mutations.
e) Miscellaneous:
• Hydoxyl amine produce chromosomal aberrations. Nitrous acid
(deaminating agent) has strong mutagenic activity in a variety of
viruses and micro-organisms.
• But not useful in higher plants.
Materials used for treating with mutagens:
• Seeds, pollen, vegetative buds, whole plants, bulbils, tubers, suckers
etc.
• Molecular basis of mutations:
• The term mutation is presently used to cover only those changes which
alter the chemical structure of the gene at molecular level.
• Such changes are commonly referred to as “point mutations”.
• Point mutations involve a change in the base sequence of a gene
which results in the production of a mutant phenotype.
• Point mutations can be subdivided into the following three classes on
the basis of molecular change associated with them.
Significance of mutations in Plant Breeding:
• When a variety is exceptionally good except for one or few
characters.
• When a recessive character is desirable and transfer of that character
from wild species is difficult.
• When a desirable character is linked with an undesirable character.
• If there is no known source of resistance gene in the available
germplasm
• To create variability
• To develop male sterile lines
• To create variations in vegetatively propagated plants
AGRICULTURE (PAPER II)
Unit-9. CELL BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Unit-10. PLANT BREEDING
Unit-11. SEED PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY
Unit-12. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Unit-13. HORTICULTURE AND LAND SCAPING
Unit-14. PLANT PROTECTION TECHNIQUES
Unit-15. FOOD PRODUCTION AND NUTRITION MANAGEMENT

Unit-9 CELL BIOLOGY & GENETICS Lecture No.

9.1 Cell structure, function and cell cycle.
9.2 Synthesis, structure and function of genetic material.
9.3 Laws of heredity.
9.4 Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations
9.5 Linkage and cross-over, and their significance in recombination breeding.
9.6 Polyploidy, euploids and aneuploids.
9.7 Mutations - and their role in crop improvement.
9.8 Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their application in
crop improvement.
9.9 Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited
characters
9.9 CYTOPLASMIC INHERITANCE, SEX-LINKED, SEX-INFLUENCED
AND SEX-LIMITED CHARACTERS
Cytoplasmic inheritance
Definition: Inheritance due to genes located in cytoplasm
(plasmagenes) is called cytoplasmic inheritance. Since genes govering
traits showing cytoplasmic inheritance are located outside the nucleus
and in the cytoplasm, they are refered to as plasmagenes.
• The sum total of genes presents in the cytoplasm of a cell or an
individual is known as plasmon.
• The plasmagenes are located in DNA present in mitochondria (mt
DNA) and in chloroplasts (cp DNA). Together both the DNAs are
called organelle DNA.
• Therefore, this type of inheritance is often referred to as organellar
inheritance, plastid inheritance or mitochondrial inheritance.
• In this, generally, the character of only one of the two parents (usually
female) is transmitted to the progeny.
• Hence such inheritance is usually referred to as extra - nuclear or
extra-chromosomal or maternal or uniparental inheritance.
The cytoplasmic inheritance is of two types:
• Plastid inheritance and
• mitochondrial inheritance.
Plastid Inheritance
• Plastids self-duplicated and have some amount of DNA and plays
an important role in cytoplasmic inheritance.
• Plastids have green pigments called chloroplasts. chloroplasts
contain a unique circular DNA (cp DNA) in the stroma that is
completely different from the nuclear genome.
Some examples of plastid inheritance are given below:
 a) Leaf variegation in Mirabilis jalapa: .

• In M. jalapa, leaves may be green, white or variegated. Some

branches may have only green, only white or only variegated leaves.
• Correns made crosses in all possible combinations among the flowers
produced on these three types of branches.
• When flowers from green branch were used as female parent, all the
progeny were green irrespective of the phenotype (green, white or
variegated) of male parent.
• Similarly, progeny from crosses involving flowers bloomed on white
branches as female parent were all white irrespective of the
phenotype of male parent.
• But in progeny from all crosses involving flowers born on variegated
branches as female parent, all the three types i.e. green, white and
variegated individuals were recovered in variable proportions.
Female Parent X Male Parent
X Green
Green X White Green
X Variegated
X Green
White X White Pale green
X Variegated
X Green Green, white and variegated in
X White variable ratio in each of the cases.
Variegated
X Variegated

• The green leaf branches have normal chloroplasts, white branches have mutant chloroplasts
and variegated have a mixture of both normal and mutant chloroplasts.
• The above results indicated that the inheritance is governed by chloroplasts.
b) Iojap in maize:
a) In maize, there are three types of leaves i.e. green, iojap
(green and white stripes) and white.
• The green leaves have normal plastids. Iojap leaves have a
mixture of normal and mutant plastids and white leaves
have only mutant plastids.
• In a cross between green female and iojap male, only
green individuals are produced in F1 generation.
• But in the reciprocal cross (iojap female and green
male) all the three kinds of progeny are obtained in
variable proportions in F1.
Mitochondrial inheritance: The inheritance of some
characters, such as cytoplasmic male sterility in plants,
pokyness in Neurospora etc., is governed by
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

a) Cytoplasmic Male Sterility (CMS) in maize: In

several crops, cytoplasmic control of male sterility is
known.
• In maize, cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is governed
by mitochondrial DNA.
• In such cases, if female parent is male sterile, F1
progeny also will be male sterile, because cytoplasm is
mainly derived from female parent.

Male sterile x Male fertile

Male sterile (CMS)

b) Pokyness in Neurospora:
Neurospora, which is a breadmold has two strains i.e. wild and poky. The wild strain has
normal growth.
While the poky which is a mutant has very slow growth.
A cross between a poky female and a wild male produce only poky progeny.
In reciprocal cross (a cross between wild female and poky male) all the progeny would be
wild.
This suggests the presence of cytoplasmic inheritance because only difference between the
reciprocal crosses is in the main contributor of cytoplasm.
Characteristic features of cytoplasmic inheritance
1. Reciprocal difference:
• Reciprocal crosses show marked differences for characters governed
by plasmagenes.
• In most cases, plasmagenes from only female parent are
transmitted and hence this phenomenon is also called uniparental
inheritance.
2. Lack of segregation:
• In general, F1, F2, F3 and subsequent generations do not show
segregation for a cytoplasmically inherited trait, as F1 individuals
receive plasmagenes from female parent only.
3. Somatic segregation:
• Plasmagenes generally show the features in somatic tissues such as
leaf variegation features which is of rare occurrence in case of nuclear
genes.
4. Association with organelle DNA:
• Several plasmagenes have been shown to be associated either with
chloroplast or mitochondrial DNA.
• For example: Cytoplasmic Male Sterility (CMS) in sorghum and maize
is associated with mitochondrial DNA.
5. Nuclear transplantation:
• Nuclear transplantation means nucleus of a cell is removed and
replaced by nucleus of another genotype from a different cell.
• If nuclear transplantation reveals a trait to be governed by genotype of
cytoplasm and not by that of nucleus, it clearly indicates that the trait
or character is governed by cytoplasmic inheritance.
6. Mutagenesis:
• Some mutagens are highly specific mutagens which act only on the
plasmagenes and do not affect nuclear genes Eg; ethidium bromide,
Induction of mutations by such agents or chemicals in a gene clearly
indicates that it is a plasmagene.
[Link] of chromosomal location:
• In many organism’s extensive linkage maps of nuclear genes are
available. If a gene is shown to be located in one of these linkage
groups, obviously it cannot be a plasmagene.
[Link] of nuclear genome through back crosses:
• Nucleus of a variety or species may be transferred into cytoplasm of
another variety or species through repeated back crossing with
former, which is used as recurrent male parent.
• Lines produced in this way are called alloplasmic lines, since they
have cytoplasm and nucleus from different species.
[Link] of association with a parasite or symbiont or virus:
• Only those cytoplasmic ally inherited traits which are not associated
with parasites, symbionts or viruses can be regarded to be governed
by plasma genes.
Differences between chromosomal (nuclear) and extra-chromosomal
(cytoplasmic or extra-nuclear or maternal) inheritance

[Link]. Character Chromosomal inheritance Extra-chromosomal inheritance

1 Location of hereditary factors Nucleus Cytoplasm
2. Associated with Chromosomes Chloroplasts and mitochondria
3. Pattern of Inheritance Can be explained by mendelism Cannot be explained by mendelism
4. Individual hereditary factors Genes Plasmagenes
are known as
5. Hereditary factors a re Genome Plasmon
collectively known as
6. Characters of F1 May show dominance or may be Exhibits only the characteristic of the
Progeny intermediate between the parents female parent
7. Reciprocal differences Not observed Observed
8. Segregation of fa ctors and Present Absent
recombination
9. Attributes of progeny Under the control of their own Under the control of cytoplasm of
genes female parent
10. Action of mutagen Non-specific Very specific
11. Frequency of occurrence Most common Rare
12. Gene mapping Easy Difficult
Sex linked inheritance
Definition: The characters for which genes are located on sex or ‘X’
or analogous ‘Z’ chromosomes are known as sex linked traits.
Such genes are called sex linked genes and linkage of such genes is
referred to as sex linkage. Inheritance of such genes or characters is
known as sex linked inheritance.
• Sex linked inheritance is traits carried in either the X or the Y
chromosome.
• A trait that is due to genes present on the X chromosome is more
likely to be expressed in males as they have only one X
chromosome.
• The presence of two X chromosomes in females can suppress its
expression when one of them has the genes for the trait and the
other does not.
• X linked traits fall under many categories like recessive, dominant
and co-dominant which influence their expression in members of
both the sexes.
• A trait due to a gene in the Y chromosome will only show in males
and not in females.
Example:
The sex linkage was first discovered by T.H. Morgan in
Drosophila and the first sex linked gene found in Drosophila was
recessive gene ‘w’ responsible for white eye colour.
When white eyed females are crossed with wild type (red eye)
males, all the male offspring have white eyes like the mother and
all the female offspring have red eyes like their father.
Sex influenced inheritance
Sex influenced genes are the autosomal genes present in both males and
females, whose phenotypic expression is different in different sexes in
such a way that they act as dominant in one sex and recessive in the other
i.e. in a pair of alleles one seems to be dominant in males while the
other in females.
• Sex-controlled character, also called Sex-influenced Character, a
genetically controlled feature that may appear in organisms of both
sexes but is expressed to a different degree in each.
• Sex-influenced traits are autosomal traits that are influenced by sex.
• The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a recessive in
the other.
• Sex-controlled character, also called Sex-influenced Character, a
genetically controlled feature that may appear in organisms of both
sexes but is expressed to a different degree in each.
• The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a recessive in
the other
Eg.: Pattern baldness in human beings and horns in sheep.
Pattern baldness in human beings is a condition in which a low
fringe of hair is present on the head in human beings.
• It is a genetically inherited condition, where the allele for
baldness B is dominant in males and recessive in females.
• In heterozygous condition, males are bald and females are non-
bald.
• If a woman heterozygous for this gene marries a heterozygous
bald man, in the offspring, the ratio of bald to non-bald in
males is 3: 1, while in females it is 1: 3.
Sex limited characters or Secondary Sexual characters
• Sex-limited genes are genes which are present in both.
• These are genes that occur in both sexes (probably on the
autosomes) but are normally expressed only in the gender
having the appropriate hormonal determiner (activator).
• Throughout the pedigree the trait appears in only one sex,
but it need NOT occur in all member of that sex.
• The genes for the trait can be carried and transmitted by
the opposite sex although it is NOT displayed in that sex
because of anatomical or physiological differences
• Sex limited genes are autosomal genes, whose phenotypic
expression is limited to one sex only.
• Their phenotypic expression is influenced by the sex
hormones.
• The sex-limited genes are mainly responsible for secondary
sex characters in cattle, human beings and fowl.
• Eg.: milk production in cattle, beard development in
human beings, plumage in male fowls etc.
Milk production in cattle: Just as the cow, the bull carries genes for
milk production, but the bull obviously cannot express this trait.
• Bull may however transmit these genes for high milk production to
the female progeny and the male progeny are unable to express this
trait.
• Some bulls are so well andowed with such genes that they are known
to breed calves, which always yield greater milk than their mothers.
• However, in plants no secondary sexual characters are known
except the absence of one or the other sporangia.
Differences between sex linked and sex-limited characters

Sex Linked characters Sex Limited characters

1. They are located on 1. They are located on sex
sex or X chromosome chromosomes or autosomes
2. They can express in both the 2. They can express in one sex
sexes only
3. Include characters not related to 3. Include primary and secondary

sex sex characters

4. Examples: milk production in
3. Examples: White eye in cattle, beard development in
Drosophila, haemophilia and human beings, plumage in male
colour blindness in human fowls etc
beings