Nicotiana debneyi has a single dominant gene causing hybrid lethality in crosses with N. tabacum

Abstract

To elucidate the genetic mechanism of hybrid lethality observed in hybrids between cultivated tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum, and wild tobacco species in the section Suaveolentes, genetic analyses were conducted through the triple cross of the hybrids of wild species, including N. benthamiana and N. fragrans, and N. tabacum. N. benthamiana and N. fragrans produced only viable hybrids after crossing with N. tabacum. Subsequently, N. benthamiana and N. fragrans were crossed with N. africana, N. debneyi, and/or N. suaveolens, which produced inviable hybrids after crossing with N. tabacum. Hybrids of the wild species were obtained from four of the six cross combinations. Only when hybrid plants of N. debneyi × N. fragrans, whose hybridity was confirmed by morphological characteristics, random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, and chromosome observation, were crossed with N. tabacum, triple hybrids were obtained and segregated 1:1 (lethal:viable). Based on these results, a single dominant gene, designated Hybrid Lethality A1 (HLA1), in N. debneyi was found to control hybrid lethality by the interaction with gene(s) on the Q chromosome in N. tabacum. This represents the first report to identify a causal gene for hybrid lethality in the genus Nicotiana.