Location dependent, intragenic recombination in maize

Abstract

With the use of chromosome interchanges, the waxy (wx) locus on chromosome 9 has been relocated to various positions in the maize genome. Four wx alleles, wx C, wx B, wx 90, and wx H21, were crossed to six chromosome translocation stocks (four with break points proximal to wx and, two distal to wx). Of the 26 possible homozygous translocation heteroallelic combinations, the results of eight are available in this report. In most instances, the frequencies of wx intragenic recombination of the rearranged chromosomes were lower than that of the control. A significant difference in degree of reduction in recombination values is found for different heteroallelic combinations at the same location and in one instance for the same heteroallelic combination at a different chromosome position. The linear order of the 4 wx mutants within the wx cistron is wx C-wx H21-wx 90 (wx B). Additional effects from both genetic background and seasonal factors of the different plantings also are observed.