Plant Genome II Conference
Town & Country Conference Center, San Diego, CA, January, 1994.
PG-II: MOLECULAR CYTOGENETIC MAPPING AND MANIPULATION OF THE POLYPLOID
GENOMES: THE WHEAT MODEL
MOLECULAR CYTOGENETIC MAPPING AND MANIPULATION OF THE POLYPLOID
GENOMES: THE WHEAT MODEL.
Bikram S. Gill, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State
University, Manhattan, KS 66506-5502.
Bread wheat, the world's most important crop plant, is also
a model plant par excellence for genetic analysis of disomic
polyploids (allopolyploids). Many classical techniques and
research paradigms of polyploid genome analysis and chromosome
manipulation were established in wheat. The application of
C-banding, in situ hybridization and RFLP mapping have laid the
foundation for new research methodologies for polyploid genetics
research. The current status of molecular cytogenetic genome
mapping and chromosome manipulation in wheat will be discussed.
Briefly, in terms of genome structure, the occurrence of
species-specific chromosomal rearrangements is a pivotal event in
the evolution of a polyploid plant. In terms of chromosome
structure, the genes are found in clusters towards the distal
end of chromosomes where the genetic recombination is also more
frequent. The ramification of these findings in chromosome
manipulation and crop improvement will be discussed.
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