Morphological and molecular analysis of androgenetic, selfed and backcrossed plants produced from a Hordeum vulgare x H-bulbosum hybrid

Anther culture (AC) was carried out on a fertile triploid hybrid between Hordeum vulgare L. (cultivated barley) and H. bulbosum L. (bulbous barley grass) to determine whether AC-derived regenerants differed from progeny obtained through selfing and backcrossing. Chromosome counts were carried out on all plants and DNA was extracted from them to prepare Southern blots for molecular analysis. To identify true recombinants, the blots were probed with rye repetitive sequence probes (pSc119.1 and pSc119.2), which hybridize strongly and specifically to H. bulbosum DNA. Twenty probes that detect single-or low-copy sequences were hybridized with Southern blots containing restricted DNA extracted from 25 AC-derived plants, 11 selfed and six back-crossed progeny that showed hybridizations with pSc119. Although restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were only observed using probes that map to four of the possible 14 chromosome arms, an introgression associated with chromosome 6HS was frequently observed among plants derived from AC, selfing and backcrossing. Plants from AC differed from selfed and backcrossed progeny in their chromosome number; unique RFLP bands that were occasionally observed may indicate chromosomal rearrangements.