Mitotic-cycle time and the development of embryo and endosperm in compatible and incompatible crosses in tuber-bearing Solanum species.

To understand the relationship between early seed development and the EBN (endosperm balance number) hypothesis, the embryo and endosperm growth rates in crosses among Solanum spp. with the same and different EBNs were analyzed. For the embryo, the differences in the mean cell-doubling time (MCDT) between the compatible species 2x Solanum gourlayi and Solanum acaule was 3.9 h, whereas the incompatible species Solanum commersonii had MCDT differences of 10 and 13.9 h with 2x S. gourlayi and S. acaule, respectively. The embryo growth rates of the 2EBN species S. acaule and S. gourlayi were almost twice as fast as that of the 1EBN species S. commersonii. Nuclei of variable sizes were observed in the endosperms resulting from incompatible crosses. The author discusses the possibility that the collapse of the endosperm in inter-EBN crosses could be caused by differences in the MCDT between the parents that produce hybrid endosperms with high levels of DNA synthesis and transcription activity, resulting in increased nuclear size. A model is proposed to explain the formation of enlarged endosperm nuclei in incompatible crosses in the genus Solanum.