HAPLOID PARTHENOGENETIC SPOROPHYTES OF LAMINARIA-JAPONICA (PHAEOPHYCEAE)

Parthenogenetic sporophytes were obtained from three strains of Laminaria japonica Areschoug. These sporophytes grew to maturity in the sea, producing spores that all grew into female gametophytes. These female gametophytes gave rise to another generation of parthenogenetic sporophytes during the next year, so that by the year 1990 parthenogenetic sporophytes had been cultivated for 12, 9, and 7 generations, respectively, for the three strains. When female gametophytes from parthenogenetic sporophytes were combined with normal male gametophytes, normal sporophytes that reproduced and gave rise to both female and male gametophytes were obtained. The parthenogenetic sporophytes were shorter and narrower than the normal sporophytes of the same strain. Chromosome counts on mature sporophytes showed that normal sporophytes (from fertilized eggs) were diploid (2n = approximately 40) and that the spores they produced were haploid (n = approximately 20), while nuclei from both somatic and sporangial cells in parthenogenetic sporophytes were haploid. All gametophytes were haploid. Young sporophytes derived from cultures with both female and male gametophytes were diploid, while young sporophytes obtained from female gametophytes from parthenogenetic sporophytes had haploid, diploid, or polyploid chromosome numbers. Polyploidy was associated with abnormal cell shapes. The presence of haploid parthenogenetic sporophytes should be of use in breeding kelp strains with useful characteristics, since the sporophyte phenotype is expressed from a haploid genotype which can be more readily selected.