Author
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FOX, S - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA |
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JELLEN, E - BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY |
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KIANIAN, S - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA |
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Rines, Howard |
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PHILLIPS, R - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA |
Submitted to: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2000 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Knowledge of the physical organization of the genetic material of a species is vital to modern efforts to genetically manipulate and modify crop plants to make them more nutritious and productive. In the cereal oat this genetic knowledge has lagged behind that in more common cereals such as wheat and corn. We have recently succeeded in combining new molecular genetic techniques with special oat lines that we produced earlier to generate information on how individual pieces of genetic information or genes are arrayed along the oat chromosomes. Chromosomes are the physical structures in each cell of each organism that carry the genetic blueprints for the organism. Each species has its own characteristic number of chromosomes; oat has 21 pairs of chromosomes. The special genetic lines that we developed are each missing one chromosome from among the 21 pairs. We used molecular analysis techniques to identify pieces of DNA or genes missing from the DNA of these special oat lines compared to that of normal oat. By associating which DNA pieces or genes are not present in lines missing different chromosomes, we can tell which genes are located on which chromosomes. This knowledge assists the geneticists and breeders in their efforts to incorporate new genes or find favorable combinations of genes for developing oat varieties with improved disease resistance, productivity, and nutritional quality. Technical Abstract: The availability of molecular genetic maps in oat (Avena spp.) and improved identification of chromosomes by C-banding are two recent developments that have made locating linkage groups to chromosomes possible in cultivated hexaploid oat, 2n=6x=42. Monosomic series derived from A. byzantina C. Koch cv Kanota and from A. sativa L. cv Sun II were used as maternal plants in crosses with the parents of the oat RFLP mapping population, Kanota-1 and Ogle-C. Monosomic F1 plants were identified by root-tip cell chromosome counts. For marker analysis, DNAs of eight F2 plants from a monosomic F1 were combined to provide a larger source of DNA that mimicked that of the monosomic F1 plant. Absence of maternal alleles in monosomic F1s served to associate linkage groups with individual chromosomes. Twenty-two linkage groups were associated with 16 chromosomes. In seven instances, linkage groups that were independent of each other in recombination analyses were associated with the same chromosome. Five linkage groups were shown to be associated with translocation differences among oat lines. Additionally, the results better characterized the oat monosomic series through the detection of duplicates and translocation differences among the various monosomic lines. The F1 monosomic series represents a powerful cytogenetic tool with potential to greatly improve understanding of the oat genome. |