B chromosomes of Aegilops speltoides are enriched in organelle genome-derived sequences.

Ruban, Alevtina; Fuchs, Jörg; Marques, André; Schubert, Veit; Soloviev, Alexander; Raskina, Olga; Badaeva, Ekaterina; Houben, Andreas · PLoS One · 2014

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

B chromosomes (Bs) are dispensable components of the genome exhibiting non-Mendelian inheritance. Chromosome counts and flow cytometric analysis of the grass species Aegilops speltoides revealed a tissue-type specific distribution of the roughly 570 Mbp large B chromosomes. To address the question whether organelle-to-nucleus DNA transfer is a mechanism that drives the evolution of Bs, in situ hybridization was performed with labelled organellar DNA. The observed B-specific accumulation of chloroplast- and mitochondria-derived sequences suggests a reduced selection against the insertion of organellar DNA in supernumerary chromosomes. The distribution of B-localised organellar-derived sequences and other sequences differs between genotypes of different geographical origins.

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