Observations on Aglaonema modestum Cytogenetic Behavior

The morphology of somatic cell chromosomes,meiotic pairing behavior in pollen mother cells(PMCs),and pollen development of Aglaonema modestum Schott ex Engl.were investigated.The results showed that:(1)the number of somatic cell chromosome for wild individuals was 2n=40 and cultivated individuals was 2n=60;(2)at diakinesis Ⅰ,cultivated individuals presented trivalent synapsis;(3)at metaphaseⅠ,20 bivalents were at the metaphase equatorial plate and 20 univalents were distributed at random,and the cultivated individuals were triploid;(4)at anaphaseⅠ,wild individuals possessed chromosome bridges,with a ratio of 10%,cultivated individuals were 3%,with lagging chromosomes,micronuclei,and fragments;(5)at the tetrad stage,the tetrads of wild individuals were normal,while cultivated tetrads and abnormal polyads;(6)pollens were spherical and trinucleate,with 2.18% of wild individual pollens abortive and 88.29% of cultivated individuals abortive;(7)each fruit of wild individuals contained one seed,while no seed was observed in the cultivated individuals.