Mutation

Breeding
Dr Devinder K Mehta
Mutation
• The term mutation was coined by Hugo de Vries in 1900 for
the first time and the word is derived from the Latin word
‘MUTARE’ means to change.
• Mutation is the sudden heritable change other than the
Mendelian segregation and gene recombination in an
organism.
• Mutation may be the result of a change in a gene, a change
in chromosome that involves several genes or a change in
plasma gene.
• “Mutation is a sudden heritable changes in an organism
other than those due to Mendelian segregation and
recombination”
Alterations can be in

• i. Chromosome Number- Chromosomal

mutation i.e. ploidy
• ii. Chromosomal aberrations- Chromosomal
aberrations
• iii. Within individual genes- Gene mutations or
point mutation
• iv. Somatic plants- Somatic/cytoplasmic
mutations/buds mutations
Mutations occur in two main ways

• 1. By alteration in nuclear DNA

(Point mutations)
• 2. By change in cytoplasmic DNA
(Cytoplasmic mutations)
History
• The term was coined by Hugo de Vries in 1900 and
the gave mutation theory in 1901
• Muller (1927) studied effect of x-rays on Drosophila
and got Nobel Prize 1946.
• Stadler (1929) studied effect of x-rays in barley and
maize
• In 1910 Morgan discovered white eye mutant in
Drosophila.
Types of Mutations
• Spontaneous mutations- Mutations occur in nature
• Induced mutations – Artificially induced by various
mutagenic agent
• Macro mutations – Mutations with distinct morphological changes
in the phenotype. It is also called oligo-genic mutations
• Micro mutations – Mutations with invisible phenotypic changes. It
is also called as polygenic mutations.
• Depending upon the effect on the survival of an individual,
induced mutations are of types namely,
• Lethal (all the individuals carrying such mutations are killed)
• Sub-lethal (mortality is more than 50%)
• Sub-vital (mortality is less than 50%)
• vital (all mutants survive)
General characteristics
• 1. Mutations are generally recessive, but dominant
mutations also occur
• 2. Generally harmful to the organism
• 3. Mutations are random i.e. they can occur in any
gene
• 4. Mutations are recurrent i.e. same mutations
occur again and again
• 5. Induced mutations commonly show pleiotropy
(single gene influences multiple characters) often
due to mutation in closely linked genes
Artificial induction of mutations
“Agents used for the induction of mutations are known as mutagens”
Mutagens can be grouped as under

• Physical mutagens
• Ionizing radiations
• Particulate – e.g. α-rays, β-rays, fast neutrons and thermal neutrons
• non-particulate - x-rays, gamma-rays (electromagnetic radiations)
• Non-ionising radiations – UV rays

• Chemical mutagens
• Alkylating agents- e.g. Sulphur mustard, Nitrogen mustard, Ethylene Imine
(EI), Sulphates and sulphonates (Ethyl Methyl Sulphonate –EMS, Methyl
Methane Sulphonate – MMS)
• Acridine dyes- e.g. acriflavine, proflavine, acridine orange, acridine yellow
etc.
• Base analogues- e.g. 5-Bromo-uracil, 5-chloro-uracil
• Others- Nitrous acid, hydroxyl amine, sodium azide
Important points
• Physical mutagens x-rays and gamma rays are widely
used (sparsely lionizing radiations). They have
advantage of good penetration and precise
dosimetry.
• UV-rays has low penetration and can be effectively
used with materials like pollen or in vitro cultured
cell in thin layers.
• Densely ionizing radiations (Thermal and fast
neutrons) cause more chromosomal aberrations
• Chemical mutagens known to produce a higher rate
of gene mutations which is generally preferred.
 Mutation breeding
Objective of the programme

Selection of the var. for mutagen treatment

Part of the plant to be treated (seed/vegetative parts/pollen grains etc)

Dose of mutagens

(An optimum dose is the one which produces maximum frequency of mutation and cause
minimum. killing LD 50 dose is most optimum

Giving the mutagen treatment

Handling of the mutagen-treated population

Procedure of mutation breeding
Step1. 1. Choice of material
• The best adapted variety of a crop should be chosen.
• Only one or two features of such variety have to be altered through mutagenesis depending upon the
objectives.
• Suppose a variety is high yielding, but susceptible to a particular disease, the objectives of 
mutation breeding would be to induce resistance to that particular disease in the variety.

Step: 2.Choice of mutagen

• It depends upon the plant parts to be treated. Generally, chemical mutagens are more preferred for seed
treatment and radiations for the treatment of vegetative parts.
• The penetration of chemical mutagens can be enhanced dissolving the mutagen in solvents like dimethyl
sulphoxide.

Step: 3. Mutagenic treatment

• Plant species- Seeds, Pollens, Buds, Cuttings or Suckers.
• Dose of mutagen –LD 50 refers to a dose of mutagen that kills 50% of the treated individuals
• Duration of treatment- depends on the intensity of radiations or concentration. The seeds are water soaked
before treatment. After treatment the seeds or cuttings are immediately planted and pollens are used for 
pollination. Plants obtained from treated seeds or cuttings are called M 1 plants.
 Step: 4 Handling of Treated Material
1st year (M1) -Treated seeds space planted
-seeds from selected plants harvested separately

2nd year (M2) -Individual plant progenies grown

-Plants from rows containing or suspected mutants
allele harvested separately

3rd year M3 (3) -Indi visual plants progenies grown

-Superior mutant lines harvested

4th year (M4) -Preliminary yield trial with a suitable check

5th to 8th year (M5 to M8) -Multi-locational yield trials

9th to 10th year (M9 to M10) -Seed multiplication distribution

Application of mutation
breeding
1. When whole of the naturally occurring variability has
exhausted
2. When a gene for desirable improvement is known to exist
but unattainable due to political and geographical reasons.
3. Useful in improving specific characteristics of a well
adapted high yielding variety
4. Useful in specific problems such as breaking up close
linkage
5. Mutagenesis has been successfully used to improve various
quantitative characters including yield.
6. Improvement of vegetatively propagated crops.
Advantages
• Used for the induction of CMS
• It is a cheap and rapid method of developing new
varieties as compared to backcross, pedigree and
bulk breeding methods.
• It is more effective for the improvement of
oligogenic characters such as disease resistance
than polygenic traits
• This is the simple, quick and best way when a new
character is to be induced in vegetatively
propagated crops
Disadvantages
• Most of the mutations are deleterious and
undesirable
• Identification of micro mutations, which are most
useful to a plant breeder is usually very difficult
• Since useful mutations are produced at a very low
frequency (0.1%), a very large plant population has
to be screened to identify and isolate desirable
mutants
• It has limited scope for the genetic improvement of
quantitative or polygenic characters
Questions?