Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Physical localization of NORs and ITS length variants in old Portuguese durum wheat cultivars

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The variation at the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA has been correlated with the number of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) in some plant species. Besides, the number of NORs might influence the rate of homogenization of the rDNA repeats. In recent studies, ITS length variants were detected in bread wheat cultivars but no reports about their presence in durum wheat were found. In the present study, we localized and identified the NORs of 51 old Portuguese durum wheat cultivars by using sequential silver staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization performed with the pTa71 rDNA probe. We also detected ITS length variants by PCR-RFLP. No variation at the number of Ag-NORs per metaphase was found among the 51 durum wheat cultivars, but the PCR-RFLP technique carried out with the restriction enzyme HpaII, allowed the detection of ITS length variants among them. The molecular data was used in order to establish the genetic relationships among cultivars and botanical varieties of durum wheat. The knowledge of this feature could be useful for future design of breeding strategies, involving this collection that constitutes an excellent repository of germplasm in Portugal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Álvarez I. and Wendel J. F. 2003 Ribosomal ITS sequences and plant phylogenetic inference. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 29, 435–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amado L., Abranches R., Neves N. and Viegas W. 1997 Developmental dependent inheritance of 5-azacytidine-induced epimutations in triticale: analysis of rDNA expression patterns. Chromosome Res. 5, 445–450.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin B. G., Sanderson M. J., Porter J. M., Wojeiechowski M. F., Capbell C. S. and Donoghe M. J. 1995 The ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA: a valuable source of evidence on angiosperm phylogeny. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 82, 247–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker R. F., Harberd N. P., Jarvist M. G. and Flavell R. B. 1988 Structure and evolution of the intergenic region in a ribosomal DNA repeat unit of wheat. J. Mol. Biol. 201, 1–17.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bhowal J. G. 1972 Nucleolar chromosomes in wheat. Z. Pflanzenzücht. 68, 253-257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho A., Guedes-Pinto H. and Lima-Brito J. 2009a Genetic variability assessed by ITS PCR-RFLP markers in old Portuguese bread wheat. J. Genet. 88, 363–367.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho A., Lima-Brito J., Maçãs B. and Guedes-Pinto H. 2009b Genetic diversity and variation among botanical varieties of old Portuguese wheat cultivars revealed by ISSR assays. Biochem. Genet. 47, 276–294.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho A., Polanco C., Lima-Brito J. and Guedes-Pinto H. 2010 Differential rRNA genes expression in hexaploid wheat related to NOR methylation. Plant Mol. Biol. Rep. 28, 403–412.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cermeño M. C., Orellana J., Santos J. L. and Lacadena J. R. 1984 Nucleolar organizer activity in wheat, rye and derivatives analysed by a silver staining procedure. Chromosoma 89, 370–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cermeño M. C., Friebe B., Zeller F. J. and Krolow K. D. 1987 Nucleolar competition in different (A/B)(A/B)RR e DDRR tetraploid triticales. Heredity 58, 1–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby A. R. 1957 Nucleolar activity of lagging chromosomes in wheat. Am. J. Bot. 44, 813–822.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle J. J. and Doyle J. L. 1987 A rapid DNA isolation procedure for small quantities of fresh leaf tissue. Phytochem. Bull. 19, 11–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell R. B. 1980 The molecular characterization and organization of plant chromosomal DNA sequences. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 31, 569–596.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gerlach W. L. and Bedbrook J. R. 1979 Cloning and characterization of ribosomal RNA genes from wheat and barley. Nucleic Acids Res. 7, 1869–1885.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goel S., Raina S. N. and Ogihara Y. 2002 Molecular evolution and phylogenetic implications of internal transcribed spacer sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA in the Phaseolus–Vigna complex. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 22, 1–19.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hsiao C., Chatterton N. J., Asay K. H. and Jensen K. B. 1994 Phylogenetic relationships of 10 grass species: an assessment of phylogenetic utility of the internal transcribed spacer region in nuclear ribosomal DNA in monocots. Genome 37, 112– 120.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hsiao C., Chatterton N. J., Asay K. H. and Jensen K. H. 1995 Phylogenetic relationships of the monogenomic species of the wheat tribe, Triticeae (Poaceae), inferred from nuclear rDNA (internal transcribed spacer) sequences. Genome 38, 211– 223.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jaccard P. 1908 Nouvelles recherches sur la distribution florale. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 44, 223–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeandroz S., Roy A. and Bousquet J. 1997 Phylogeny and phylogeography of the circumpolar genus Fraxinus (Oleaceae) based on internal transcribed spacer sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 7, 241–251.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jobst J., King K. and HemLeben V. 1998 Molecular evolution of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) and phylogenetic relationships among species of the family Cucurbitaceae. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 9, 204–219.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lacadena J. R., Cermeño M. C., Orellana J. and Santos J. L. 1984 Evidence for wheat-rye nucleolar competition (amphiplasty) in triticale by silver staining procedure. Theor. Appl. Genet. 67, 207–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima-Brito J., Guedes-Pinto H. and Heslop-Harrison J. S. 1998 The activity of nucleolar organizing chromosomes in multigeneric F1 hybrids involving wheat, triticale, and tritordeum. Genome 41, 763–768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nalini E., Bhagwat S. G. and Jawali N. 2007 Identification and characterization of some ITS variants from hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Plant Sci. 173, 262–268.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nei M. 1987 Molecular evolutionary genetics, pp. 187–192. Columbia University Press, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nwakanma D. C., Pillay M., Okoli B. E. and Tenkouano A. 2003 PCR-RFLP of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) provides markers for the A and B genomes in Musa L. Theor. Appl. Genet. 108, 154–159.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Page R. D. M. 1996 Treeview: an application to display phylogenetic trees on personal computers. Comput. Appl. Biol. Sci. 12, 357–358.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rohlf F. J. 1988 NTSYS-pc, Numerical taxonomy and multivariate analysis system, version 2.0.2. Exeter Publishing, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saghai-Maroof M. A., Soliman K. M., Jorgensen R. A. and Allard R. W. 1984 Ribosomal DNA spacer-length polymorphisms in barley: Mendelian inheritance, chromosomal location, and population dynamics. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, 8014– 8018.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saini A., Reddy S. K. and Jawali N. 2008 Intra-individual and intra-species heterogeneity in nuclear rDNA ITS region of Vigna species from subgenus Ceratotropis. Genet. Res. Camb. 90, 299–316.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saitou N. and Nei M. 1987 The neighbour-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol. Biol. Evol. 4, 406–425.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma S., Rustgi S., Balyan H. S. and Gupta P. K. 2002 Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of ribosomal DNA of wild barley and their comparison with ITS sequences in common wheat. Barley Genet. Newslett. 32, 38–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva M., Pereira H. S., Bento M., Santos A. P., Shaw P., Delgado M. et al. 2008 Interplay of ribosomal DNA loci in nucleolar dominance: dominant NORs are up-regulated by chromatin dynamics in the wheat-rye system. PLoS ONE 3, e3824 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003824).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urbatsch L. E., Baldwin B. and Donoghue M. J. 2000 Phylogeny of coneflowers and relatives (Heliantheae: Asteraceae) based on nuclear rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences and chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Syst. Bot. 25, 539–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wendel J. F. 2000 Genome evolution in polyploids. Plant Mol. Biol. 42, 225–249.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • White T. J., Bruns T., Lee S. and Taylor J. 1990 Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal genes for phylogenetics. In PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications (ed. M. A. Innis, D. H. Gelfand, J. J. Sninsky and T. J. White), pp. 315–322. Academic Press, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeh F. C., Yang R. C., Boyle T. B. J., Ye Z. H. and Mao J. X. 1999 Popgene version 1.32, the user-friendly shareware for population genetic analysis. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, USA.

  • Zhang W., Qu L. J., Gu H., Gao W., Liu M., Chen J. and Chen Z. 2002 Studies on the origin and evolution of tetraploid wheats based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Theor. Appl. Genet. 104, 1099–1106.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (IBB), Centre of Genomics and Biotechnology (CGB), University of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro, P. O. Box 1013, 5001-801, Vila Real, Portugal

    ANA CARVALHO, HENRIQUE GUEDES-PINTO & JOSÉ LIMA-BRITO

Authors
  1. ANA CARVALHO
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. HENRIQUE GUEDES-PINTO
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. JOSÉ LIMA-BRITO
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

[Carvalho A., Guedes-Pinto H. and Lima-Brito J. 2011 Physical localization of NORs and ITS length variants in old Portuguese durum wheat cultivars. J. Genet. 90, 95–101]

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

CARVALHO, A., GUEDES-PINTO, H. & LIMA-BRITO, J. Physical localization of NORs and ITS length variants in old Portuguese durum wheat cultivars. J Genet 90, 95–101 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-011-0033-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-011-0033-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation