Somatic Mutations of tradescantia 4430 treated with radiation and mercury

Tradescantia 4430 clone is an interspecific hybrid made by artificially crossing T. hirsutiflora with T. subacaulis. It has hereditary heteromorphy in its flower color, blue dominant and pink recessive. The hybrid clone is exttremely sensitive to ionizing radiation and chemical mutagens. Groups of inflorescence cuttings were irradiated with 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 Gy. After irradiation, the cuttings were maintained at 24 degrees C under a controlled light:dark (14 : 10) cycle. Five days after irradiation, mutations started to increase rapidly and reached a maximum rate during 8⁓10 days after irradiation. Mutation frequencies increased with radiation dose and with mercury concentration. In conclusion irradiation as well as mercury caused a dose- or concentration-response relationship in the somatic mutation frequencies of Tradescantia 4430. Tradescantia 4430 proved to be a good material for studying the combined effect of radiation and mercury