[Epigenetic variation of the choriflowered--symflowered character in the symflowered sugar beet line SOAN-14]

The effect of 5-azacytidine on the variation of the choriflowered (CF)-symflowered (SF) character in sugar beet was studied in several generations obtained via seed reproduction. The epimutagen (5-azacytidine) significantly reduced the number of flowers in glomerate inflorescences in the year of seed treatment and in the next generation (Az1), leading to the appearance of plants with single flowers in bract axils of a flower stalk. The CF character resulting from epimutagene treatment of sugar beet seeds (plants with genotype M(Z)M(Z) was inherited as a monohybrid character in both zygotic and apozygotic seed progenies. The proportion of the CF and SF phenotypes in the progenies was affected bythe chromatid number in the chromosomes (mixoploidy of the cell populations). Alleles of the Mm locus were found to affect the variation in phytomere organization of flower stalks.