BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF HYBRIDS 299 



refinements in technique Moritz concluded that Vicia leganyi was a 

 hybrid of Lens esculenta and Vicia sativa. Despite this, its protein 

 was not exactly equal to the summation of that of its putative parents, 

 for some of the Lens esculenta protein was absent. 



Authenticated hybrids involving species of Triticum, Secale, 

 and Aegilops were serologically intermediate to the parents. Cy to- 

 logical studies showed these hybrids {Aegilops ovata x Triticum 

 dicoccoides and Triticum aestivum x Secale cereale) to be amphidi- 

 ploids (see Moritz, 1958). 



Hall (1959) has reported an interesting study of immuno- 

 electrophoretic properties of allopolyploid ryewheat and its parental 

 species. Extracts of the seeds of inbred varieties of wheat and rye and 

 the hybrid were utilized. (The method of immuno-electrophoresis is 

 described briefly in Chapter 5.) 



By use of appropriate antisera, unadsorbed, and adsorbed by 

 selected sera, one may determine whether rye and wheat have any 

 similar antigens, whether the hybrid has some or all of the antigens of 

 the parents, and whether any antigens peculiar to the hybrid are 

 present. The results of this study are, in summary, as follows: 



(1) Wheat extracts contain some proteins lacking in rye but 

 some fractions in the two extracts agree. 



(2) The hybrid ryewheat contains all of the proteins recog- 

 nized in wheat and all of the proteins recognized in rye 

 except for one. 



One statement by Hall is of particular significance and merits 

 further comment: 



The formation of hybrid substances found in some species hybrids of 

 birds (cf. Irwin 1951) was not detected in these experiments, and the 

 protein composition of the ryewheat as far as examined was found to 

 have originated by a more or less complete addition of the proteins of 

 the parental species. 



The observation quoted above is in accord with a point of 

 view expressed some years ago by Moritz (1934) who said that the 

 protein constituents of hybrids were found serologically to represent 

 combinations of all or part of the proteins of parents without the 

 occurrence of specifically new proteins as a result of hybridization. 



Beckman et al. (1962) found that the protein components of 

 hybrids of canaries and finches were essentially the summation of the 

 components of the two parental types. However, two components, 

 designated A and B, were always present in the hybrids but in only 



