title: Laying the cytotaxonomic foundations of a new model grass, Brachypodium distachyon (L.) Beauv.
abstract: Brachypodium distachyon is a ubiquitous, temperate grass species which is being developed and exploited as an alternative model to rice, in order to gain access to important syntenic regions of the genomes of less tractable relatives such as wheat. As part of this initiative, this paper describes for the first time the cytotaxonomy of members of the polyploid series of this species, and challenges the assumption that the series evolved simply by chromosome doubling. In situ hybridization using genomic DNA probes and rDNA markers uncovers a hybrid origin of several of the polyploid ecotypes, and sheds light upon the complex evolution of this species and its close relatives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Anatomy and Cytology, University of Silesia, Jagiellonska 28, 40-032 Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hasterok
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Draper
authors.forename: Glyn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jenkins
mesh_terms: D020223:Chromosome Painting; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics*; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000235:genetics*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D018745:Genome, Plant; D007621:Karyotyping; D006109:Poaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D011123:Polyploidy; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal