Androgenesis conditioned by a mutation in maize.

A maize embryo having the nuclear constitution of a reduced gametophyte cell is produced in 3 percent of the embryo sacs of inbred strain Wisconsin-23 that carry the mutant indeterminate gametophyte (ig). The nucleus of most monoploid sporophytes so derived is paternal. Such androgenetic monoploids may originate from a sperm nucleus acting in conjunction with the cytoplasm of a maternal cell from which the nucleus has been functionally displaced.