Rye chromosome variability in wheat-rye addition and substitution lines

In a study of polymorphism and stability in rye chromosomes, three rye varieties and the sets of wheat-rye addition and substitution lines were compared using two non-homologous highly repetitive DNA families, pSc200 and pSc250. The rye varieties, Petkus, Imperial and Onohoiskaya, showed polymorphism for the presence and the size of the pSc200 in-situ hybridization signals on chromosome pairs, 2R, 4R and 7R, and the pSc250 signals on chromosomes, 5R, 6R and 7R. Chromosome 1R was heteromorphic within the Onohoiskaya variety. Differences in the distribution of chromosome polymorphisms imply that intervarietal changes to these highly repetitive DNA families occurred independently, despite their juxtaposition or even overlapping locations in subtelomeric heterochromatic regions. In the set of Saratovskaya 29 wheat/Onohoiskaya substitution lines, only chromosome 2R was altered relative to its counterpart in the parental rye variety due to amplification of the pSc250 signal on the long arm, although this did not exceed intervarietal polymorphism. In the set of Chinese Spring wheat/ Imperial addition lines, only two Imperial chromosomes, 4R and 6R, were unchanged. We detected the loss of one or both rye homologous chromosomes, the loss of one arm, and the deletion of subtelomeric heterochromatin accompanied by the loss of the pSc200 signal. The results show that Saratovskaya 29/Onohoiskaya chromosome substitution lines possess increased chromosome stability compared with Chinese Spring/Imperial addition lines.