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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #142635

Title: EVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION OF THE MLA LOCUS IN THE POACEAE

Author
item TURNER, STACY - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item Wise, Roger

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/2003
Publication Date: 1/15/2003
Citation: Turner, S., Wise, R.P. 2003. Evolutionary organization of the Mla locus in the poaceae. Plant and Animal Genome Conference Proceedings. XI Conference. p. 351.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Mla locus in barley contains 30 possible genes over a 260-kb region of chromosome 5 (1H), one of the highest gene densities in the Triticeae. Within the cereals, much of the model rice genome is syntenic to the larger, more complex species. However, genes encoding resistance to pathogens frequently evade synteny, possibly due to selection pressure resulting in their reorganization. To examine the evolution of the gene-dense Mla region in the Poaceae, we compared each of the putative coding regions of the 260-kb Mla complex to the sequenced rice genome in GenBank, Gramene, and TIGR. Although a few clusters of genes within the 260-kb Mla locus map to rice chromosomes 1, 5, and 10, most of the coding regions have significant similarity across several different rice chromosomes. These results indicate that much of the organization of the Mla locus in barley occurred after its divergence from rice.