Formation of Megachromosomes from Heterochromatic Blocks of NICOTIANA TOMENTOSIFORMIS

A heterochromatic block (HB) from N. otophora occasionally undergoes great enlargement to form a "megachromosome" in hybrids and hybrid derivatives with N. tabacum. This paper shows that the two large HB's of closely related N. tomentosiformis, and perhaps a smaller one, also have the same capability. The evidence that both large HB's form megachromosomes is twofold. In a segregating backcross population from a parent possessing the two large HB's, all segregants with one block produced megachromosomes at metaphase or large heterochromatic clumps at interphase. Second, those segregants which possessed both heterochromatic blocks produced megachromosomes of two visibly different types. Proliferation to make megachromosomes thus may not be the property of merely one particular segment but a more common property of heterochromatin in a hybrid or otherwise disturbed background.