Detection of terminal deletions in barley chromosomes by the PCR based method.

Abstract

Barley chromosomes have barley-specific repetitive sequences (HvT01) in the subtelomeric regions. The subtelomeric repeats were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 11 wheat-barley telosome addition lines, but no or little amplification occurred in the euploid common wheat cultivar `Chinese Spring'. A gametocidal chromosome 2C, derived from an Aegilops cylindrica chromosome, induces chromosome breaks in Chinese Spring. To explore the potential of using PCR as a screen for barley telosomes with terminal deletions, induced by chromosome 2C, the progeny of a barley ditelosomic (6HS) addition line of Chinese Spring carrying chromosome 2C was investigated. The progeny plants in which DNA amplification occurred by PCR always had a normal 6HS whereas those in which no DNA amplification was observed carried either no 6HS or a 6HS telosome with a deletion. In this work the PCR based assay described is shown to be a robust and reliable method of identifying terminal deletions in barley telosomes in a Chinese Spring background.