Intrinsic karyotype stability and gene copy number variations may have laid the foundation for tetraploid wheat formation.
Polyploidy or whole-genome duplication is recurrent in plant evolution, yet only a small fraction of whole-genome duplications has led to successful speciation. A major challenge in the establishment of nascent polyploids is sustained karyotype instability, which compromises fitness. The three putative diploid progenitors of bread wheat, with AA, SS (S ∼ B), and DD genomes occurred sympatrically, and their cross-fertilization in different combinations may have resulted in fertile allotetraploids with various genomic constitutions. However, only SSAA or closely related genome combinations have led to the speciation of tetraploid wheats like Triticum turgidum and Triticum timopheevii. We analyzed early generations of four newly synthesized allotetraploid wheats with genome compositions S(sh)S(sh)A(m)A(m), S(l)S(l)AA, S(b)S(b)DD, and AADD by combined fluorescence and genomic in situ hybridization-based karyotyping. Results of karyotype analyses showed that although S(sh)S(sh)A(m)A(m) and S(l)S(l)AA are characterized by immediate and persistent karyotype stability, massive aneuploidy and extensive chromosome restructuring are associated with S(b)S(b)DD and AADD in which parental subgenomes showed markedly different propensities for chromosome gain/loss and rearrangements. Although compensating aneuploidy and reciprocal translocation between homeologs prevailed, reproductive fitness was substantially compromised due to chromosome instability. Strikingly, localized genomic changes in repetitive DNA and copy-number variations in gene homologs occurred in both chromosome stable lines, S(sh)S(sh)A(m)A(m) and S(l)S(l)AA. Our data demonstrated that immediate and persistent karyotype stability is intrinsic to newly formed allotetraploid wheat with genome combinations analogous to natural tetraploid wheats. This property, coupled with rapid gene copy-number variations, may have laid the foundation of tetraploid wheat establishment.
Key Laboratory of Molecular Epigenetics of the Ministry of Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China.
Huakun
H
Zhang
Yao
Y
Bian
Xiaowan
X
Gou
Yuzhu
Y
Dong
Sachin
S
Rustgi
Bangjiao
B
Zhang
Chunming
C
Xu
Ning
N
Li
Bao
B
Qi
Fangpu
F
Han
Diter
D
von Wettstein
Bao
B
Liu
D001483:Base Sequence; D043171:Chromosomal Instability / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D018628:Gene Dosage / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D059785:Karyotype; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D057891:Tetraploidy; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics*
D017931:DNA Primers
genomic shock; intergenomic rearrangement; polyploid speciation