Ontogeny of the barley plant as related to mutation expression and detection of pollen mutations

Clustering of mutant pollen grains in a population of normal pollen due to premeiotic mutational events complicates translating mutation frequencies into rates. Embryo ontogeny in barley will be described and used to illustrate the formation of such mutant clusters. The nature of the statistics for mutation frequency will be described from a study of the reversion frequencies of various waxy mutants in barley. Computer analysis by a "jackknife" method of the reversion frequencies of a waxy mutant treated with the mutagen sodium azide showed a significantly higher reversion frequency than untreated material. Problems of the computer analysis suggest a better experimental design for pollen mutation experiments. Preliminary work on computer modeling for pollen development and mutation will be described.