ABSTRACT
Pollen and pistils of Petunia hybrida from self-compatible and self incompatible clones demonstrated different fluorescence spectra during the development of the flower (Kovaleva and Roshchina, 1999). The differences in the fluorescence spectra of the self-incompatible clone were already seen, beginning from the flower bud, where pollen of incompatible clone has no expressed maxima, unlike pollen of compatible clone emitted with maxima 475 and 640 nm. Pollen of opening flower from both clones demonstrates one maximum in green 518-520 nm, while in the open flower there were differences. In self-compatible clone we see two maxima at 450470 and 520 nm and shoulder 640 nm related, perhaps, to azulene or flavonoids rutin or quercetin. Unlike self-compatible clone, in self-
Fig. 6.4. The fluorescence species of generative organs from self-compatible and selfincompatible clones of Petunia hybrida
incompatible clone, pollen does not have the same shoulder. Pistil of self compatible clone had maximum in green at 530 nm (flavins) whereas those from self-incompatible - in green at 440 nm (terpenoids) in the flower bud before flower opening. In the completely open flower, the pistil stigma of the former clone demonstrated maximums 480, 510-520 and 680 nm, but in the latter clone - 480, 510-520 and 695 nm. It appears to be redox reactions on the surface of pollen at the interaction “pollen-pistil” (See Chapter 5, Section 5.1.1). They include reduction-oxidation of the surface components, which differ in self-compatible and self-incompatible clones. The difference in the fluorescence spectra of the clones could also be related to genetic peculiarities, in particular with the activity of the S-gene. Thus, the method of microspectrofluorimetry appears to be used for the earlier diagnostics of self-incompatibility due to their fluorescence spectra of pollen and pistils.
