[Nuclear-cytoplasmic compatibility and the state of mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA regions in alloplasmic recombinant and introgressive lines (H. vulgare)-T. aestivum].

Alloplasmic lines combining alien nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes are convenient models for studying the mechanisms of nuclear-cytoplasmic compatibility/incompatibility. In the.present study, we have investigated the correlation between the characters and state of mitochondrial (mt) and chloroplast (cp) DNA regions in alloplasmic recombinant common wheat lines with barley cytoplasm characterized by partial or total fertility.

Heteroplasmy and paternally oriented shift of the organellar DNA composition in barley-wheat hybrids during backcrosses with wheat parents.

Mitochondrial (mt) and chloroplast (ct) genome inheritance was studied in barley-wheat hybrids, as were their progenies obtained from backcrosses with different common wheat cultivars, by monitoring the composition of 4 mtDNA (coxI, a 5'-flanking region of cob, nad3-orf156, and 5'-upstream region of 18S/5S) and 2 ctDNA (simple-sequence repeat locus downstream of trnS and a 3'-flanking region of rbcL) loci. In male sterile F1 and BC1 plants, maternal barley mtDNA fragments were mainly detected and very low levels of paternal wheat fragments were occasionally detected by PCR in coxI, a 5'-flanking region of cob and nad3-orf156, whereas a 5'-upstream region of 18S/5S showed clear heteroplasmy, containing both maternal and paternal copies, with maternal copies prevailing. Plants showing such heteroplasmic mtDNA composition remained either semisterile or became completely sterile in the later backcross generations.