Open AccessAre neopolyploids a likely route for a transgene walk to the wild? The Aegilops ovata × Triticum turgidum durum case
Author(s) -
L. DAVID JACQUES,
BENAVENTE ELENA,
BRÈSPATRY CÉCILE,
DUSAUTOIR JEANCLAUDE,
ECHAIDE MERCEDES
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
biological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.906
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1095-8312
pISSN - 0024-4066
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2004.00336.x
Subject(s) - biology , triticum turgidum , gene flow , aegilops , ploidy , cultivar , botany , domestication , hybrid , interspecific hybridization , sympatric speciation , gene , genetics , genetic variation
Spontaneous hybridization between durum wheat ( Triticum turgidum durum ) and Aegilops ovata is regularly observed in nature. The frequency of spontaneous amphiploidy in sympatric populations was estimated at 10 −6 (direct in situ observations and germinated seed collected from A. ovata plants). In nursery conditions some genotype combinations gave frequencies that were much higher at 10 −3 . Genomic in situ hybridization revealed that fertile amphiploids had arisen through unreduced gametes, and that some of them carried wheat − A. ovata recombinant chromosomes. The frequency of production of unreduced gametes is probably genetically inherited. Amphiploids provide a route for gene flow, including that of transgenes, to the wild. Gene flow could potentially be minimized through the choice of wheat cultivars that produce a low frequency of unreduced gametes. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2004, 82 , 503–510.