Variability of genomic constitutions of festulolium (Festuca × Lolium) within and among cultivars. (4th December 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kubota, Akito; Akiyama, Yukio; Ueyama, Yasufumi
• Is Part Of: Grassland science. Volume 61:Number 1(2015:Mar.)
• Page Start: 15
• Page End: 23
• Publication Date: 2014-12-04
• Subjects: Grasslands -- Periodicals; Grasslands -- Management -- Periodicals; 578.74
• DOI: 10.1111/grs.12073
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1744-6961

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="grs12073-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Festulolium is an intergeneric hybrid between <italic>Lolium</italic> and <italic>Festuca</italic> species that may possess the agronomic advantages of both genera. As a result of DNA recombination, the chromosomes in festulolium are striped with DNA from the two genera. Using genomic <italic>in situ</italic> hybridization and image analysis techniques, we determined the genomic constitution of festulolium using the ratio of <italic>Festuca</italic>‐specific genome regions to the whole genome (the <italic>F</italic> ratio). The <italic>F</italic> ratio of a festulolium cultivar is expected to reveal its phenotypic tendency, particularly quantitative traits that differ clearly between <italic>Lolium</italic> and <italic>Festuca</italic>, such as persistency, drought resistance and seed yield. The objective of this study was to clarify the variability of the <italic>F</italic> ratio among cultivars, in order to determine how many plants were required to estimate the <italic>F</italic> ratio of a cultivar. We investigated the <italic>F</italic> ratios of five cultivars and found that they were significantly different. 'Paulita' had the highest <italic>F</italic> ratio (approximately 33%), followed by 'Tandem' and 'Tohoku 1' (approximately 18%) and 'Evergreen' and 'Icarus' (approximately 6%). Given the unbiased variance in the <italic>F</italic> ratios of 'Icarus, ' which had the largest number of tested plants, we concluded that seven plants were more than sufficient to distinguish among cultivars whose <italic>F</italic> ratios differed by 10 points at a significance level of 0.05.</p> </abstract>