An international research team has achieved a breakthrough in research into the reproduction of dogrose. The study, which has now been published in Nature, shows how differences in the size of the centromeres—the central docking sites for chromosomes—play a decisive role in the extraordinary chromosome inheritance of these plants.

In the long term, the results could open up new avenues for the development of more robust crops. The research was led by Dr. André Marques from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Prof. Dr. Christiane Ritz from the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz and Dr. Aleš Kovařík from the Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The dogrose (Rosa canina) is by far the most common wild rose in Central Europe. Its fruits, known as "rose hips," are used in a variety of ways—from fruit tea blends to the production of "itching powder."

"The plant is not only pretty to look at and can be used for all kinds of purposes, but has also developed a special form of reproduction," explains Prof. Dr. Christiane Ritz from the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz. "While most plants and animals each have two sets of chromosomes, the dogrose has five. This makes their reproduction more complicated. An odd number of chromosome sets even often leads to infertility in many plants because the chromosomes cannot be evenly paired and distributed during meiosis—the formation of egg and sperm cells."
 

Source: www.floraldaily.com