Genetic Redundancy in Rye Shows in a Variety of Ways.

Fifty years ago Susumu Ohno formulated the famous C-value paradox, which states that there is no correlation between the physical sizes of the genome, i.e., the amount of DNA, and the complexity of the organism, and highlighted the problem of genome redundancy.

The origin and evolution of a two-component system of paralogous genes encoding the centromeric histone CENH3 in cereals.

Background: The cereal family Poaceae is one of the largest and most diverse angiosperm families. The central component of centromere specification and function is the centromere-specific histone H3 (CENH3). Some cereal species (maize, rice) have one copy of the gene encoding this protein, while some (wheat, barley, rye) have two.

Expression of Two Rye CENH3 Variants and Their Loading into Centromeres.

Gene duplication and the preservation of both copies during evolution is an intriguing evolutionary phenomenon. Their preservation is related to the function they perform. The central component of centromere specification and function is the centromere-specific histone H3 (CENH3).

Chromosomal assignment of centromere-specific histone CENH3 genes in rye ( L.) and their phylogeny.

Centromeres are essential for correct chromosome segregation during cell division and are determined by the presence of centromere-specific histone 3 (CENH3). Most of the diploid plant species, in which the structure and copy number of genes have been determined, have this gene as a singleton; however, some cereal species in the tribe Triticeae have been found to have CENH3 in two variants. In this work, using the set of the wheat-rye addition lines we wanted to establish the chromosomal assignment of the genes in the cultivated rye, (Linnaeus, 1753), in order to expand our knowledge about synteny conservation in the most important cereal species and about their chromosome evolution.