XVI International Botanical Congess

Apomixis, as it exists in Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), is a nearly ideal way of maintaining superior hybrids and complex traits. Lack of knowledge on its inheritance at present hinders attempts to transfer the apomictic trait beyond natural sexual barriers. Independent cito-embryological and molecular progeny tests have indicated that only a single gene or a few tightly linked dominant genes are required for the genetic transmission of parthenogenesis and that apomixis is a simply inherited system. Sexual non-parthenogenic plants completely lack aposporic activity while apomictic plants are highly aposporic and parthenogenic. The finding of highly significant linkages between molecular markers and the mode of reproduction further agrees with the monogenic hypothesis.