Data from: Morphological, cellular and molecular evidences of chromosome random elimination in vivo upon haploid induction in maize

The mechanism of maternal in vivo haploid induction is not fully
understood. In this study, the young embryos were identified by
morphology, cytology and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers at different
developmental stages in the cross HZ514 (sweet corn) × HZI1 (inducer). The
results indicated that the low seed setting rate was determined by the
inducer pollen during the process of fertilization. The mosaic endosperm
kernels and the different percentages of aneuploidy, mixploidy, lagged
chromosome, micronuclei, chromosomal bridge and ring chromosome were found
in the cross; 7.37% of the haploid embryos carried chromosome segments
from HZI1. About 1% twin seedlings resulted from the cross and were
analyzed by cytology and SSR markers. Four pairs of twin seedlings had
different chromosome numbers (2n = 20 and 2n = 10–20) and there were some
chromosome fragments from HZI1. Aneuploidy, mixploidy and the abnormal
chromosomes occurred in the in vivo haploid induction by HZI1, which is
the cytological basis for haploid induction and indicates that the
inducer's chromosomes are prone to be lost during mitotic and meiotic
divisions. Morphological, cellular and molecular evidences reveal that
complete or partial chromosome elimination from inducer HZI1 controls the
maize in vivo haploid induction.