| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
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| Research Abstract |
American dune grass, Leymus mollis, belongs to the tribe Triticeae (Gramineae). Almost all members of the tribe have spike or raceme, but not panicle. Although L.mollis has been thought to have only spikes, we found a panicle-bearing individual. But, the reason why the species have panicle is not understood. In order to understand its biological significance, in this study, we clarified following three point
Distribution : The species is naturally distributed from Yamaguchi prefecture and the north in the Japanese Sea side, and from Chiba prefecture and the north in the Pacific Ocean side in Japan. The distribution of panicle-bearing individuals was restricted to Niigata prefecture north in Japanese Sea side, and to Miyagi prefecture north in Pacific Ocean side.
Cause of Panicle : We observed hundreds of ovaries. Every ovary of panicle was infected by nematodes, while every ovary of spike was never infected by nematodes. So, it was concluded that the infection of nematodes modifies the shape of inflorescences of Leymus mollis.
Adaptive implication : In the ovaries infected by nematodes, no embryo developed. As is usual, the ovaries infected by nematodes cannot germinate. There thought to be non-adaptive for Leymus mollis to have panicles.
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