Karelian birch (Betula pendula Roth. var. carelica Merkl.) as a model for studying genetic and epigenetic variation related to the formation of patterned wood

The results of long-term pioneering studies on in vitro micropropagation of Karelian birch patterned forms and simultaneous cytological analysis of plants multiplied using different periods of in vitro culturing are published for the first time. The patterned wood character has been shown to be correlated with the degree of mixoploidy of its somatic tissue, which is higher in the plants obtained from callus cultures during the first years of culturing. Subsequent intracellular selection leads to a decrease in mixoploidy and, hence, in a later expression and lower expressivity of the patterned wood character in regenerant plants. It is also known that extreme growth conditions stimulate the formation of patterned wood. Thus, Karelian birch may serve as a model object for studying the forms of variability (both genetic and epigenetic) that result in patterned wood. The genetic variability is expressed in the variation of the degree of mixoploidy of somatic tissue as a result of various mitotic aberrations. The epigenetic variability is not related to changes in the DNA structure; it is caused by different phenotypic effects of genes located in cells with different ploidy/aneuploidy levels, the ratio between which varies depending on the environmental conditions. The expression of genes, in particular, rRNA genes, is affected by extreme conditions. The appearance of a residual nucleolus at the mitotic metaphase-telophase stages is a cytological expression of this phenomenon.