Question

Colchicine brings about

• A. Polyploidy
• B. Cell division
• C. Cell elongation
• D. Cell differentiation

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Polyploidy

Alkaloid colchicine (produced by many plants of family Liliaceae) inhibits the micro tubules to assemble to form spindle fibers. Therefore, alkaloid colchicine interferes with mitosis and chromosome segregation and the cell division is arrested at metaphase in presence of colchicine. Since chromosome segregation is driven by microtubules, colchicine is also used for inducing polyploidy in plant cells during cellular division by inhibiting chromosome segregation during meiosis; half the resulting gametes, therefore, contain no chromosomes, while the other half contains double the usual number of chromosomes (i.e., diploid instead of haploid, as gametes usually are), and lead to embryos with double the usual number of chromosomes (i.e., tetraploid instead of diploid).

So, the correct answer is 'Polyploidy'.