Repetitive DNA: A Versatile Tool for Karyotyping in Festuca pratensis Huds.

FISH is a useful method to identify individual chromosomes in a karyotype and to discover their structural changes accompanying genome evolution and speciation. DNA probes for FISH should be chromosome specific and/or exhibit specific patterns of distribution along each chromosome. Such probes are not available in many plants including meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds.), an important forage grass species. In the present study, various DNA repeats identified in Illumina shotgun sequences specific to chromosome 4F of F. pratensis were used as probes for FISH to develop the molecular karyotype of meadow fescue and to reveal a long-range molecular organization of its chromosomes. Five tandem repeats produced specific patterns on individual chromosomes. Their use in combination with probes for rRNA genes enabled the establishment of the molecular karyotype of meadow fescue. Most of the mobile genetic elements were dispersed along all the chromosomes except for the DNA transposon CACTA, which was localized preferentially to telomeric and subtelomeric regions, and a putative LTR element, which was localized to (peri)centromeric regions. Cytogenetic mapping of the 5 tandem repeats in other accessions of meadow fescue showed a highly similar distribution and confirmed the versatility and robustness of these probes.

Křivánková A ，Kopecký D ，Stočes Š ，Doležel J ，Hřibová E ... -  《-》

Exploiting repetitive sequences and BAC clones in Festuca pratensis karyotyping.

Majka J ，Książczyk T ，Kiełbowicz-Matuk A ，Kopecký D ，Kosmala A ... -  《PLoS One》

A linkage map of meadow fescue ( Festuca pratensis Huds.) and comparative mapping with other Poaceae species.

A genetic linkage map has been constructed for meadow fescue ( Festuca pratensis Huds.) (2n=2 x=14) using a full-sib family of a cross between a genotype from a Norwegian population (HF2) and a genotype from a Yugoslavian cultivar (B14). The two-way pseudo-testcross procedure has been used to develop separate maps for each parent, as well as a combined map. A total number of 550 loci have been mapped using homologous and heterologous RFLPs, AFLPs, isozymes and SSRs. The combined map consists of 466 markers, has a total length of 658.8 cM with an average marker density of 1.4 cM/marker. A high degree of orthology and colinearity was observed between meadow fescue and the Triticeae genome(s) for all linkage groups, and the individual linkage groups were designated 1F-7F in accordance with the orthologous Triticeae chromosomes. As expected, the meadow fescue linkage groups were highly orthologous and co-linear with Lolium, and with oat, maize and sorghum, generally in the same manner as the Triticeae chromosomes. It was shown that the evolutionary 4AL/5AL translocation, which characterises some of the Triticeae species, is not present in the meadow fescue genome. A putative insertion of a segment orthologous to Triticeae 2 at the top of 6F, similar to the rearrangement found in the wheat B and the rye R genome, was also observed. In addition, chromosome 4F is completely orthologous to rice chromosome 3 in contrast to the Triticeae where this rice chromosome is distributed over homoeologous group 4 and 5 chromosomes. The meadow fescue genome thus has a more ancestral configuration than any of the Triticeae genomes. The extended meadow fescue map reported here provides the opportunity for beneficial cross-species transfer of genetic knowledge, particularly from the complete genome sequence of rice.

Alm V ，Fang C ，Busso CS ，Devos KM ，Vollan K ，Grieg Z ，Rognli OA ... -  《THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS》

Flow sorting and sequencing meadow fescue chromosome 4F.

The analysis of large genomes is hampered by a high proportion of repetitive DNA, which makes the assembly of short sequence reads difficult. This is also the case in meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis), which is known for good abiotic stress resistance and has been used in intergeneric hybridization with ryegrasses (Lolium spp.) to produce Festulolium cultivars. In this work, we describe a new approach to analyze the large genome of meadow fescue, which involves the reduction of sample complexity without compromising information content. This is achieved by dissecting the genome to smaller parts: individual chromosomes and groups of chromosomes. As the first step, we flow sorted chromosome 4F and sequenced it by Illumina with approximately 50× coverage. This provided, to our knowledge, the first insight into the composition of the fescue genome, enabled the construction of the virtual gene order of the chromosome, and facilitated detailed comparative analysis with the sequenced genomes of rice (Oryza sativa), Brachypodium distachyon, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and barley (Hordeum vulgare). Using GenomeZipper, we were able to confirm the collinearity of chromosome 4F with barley chromosome 4H and the long arm of chromosome 5H. Several new tandem repeats were identified and physically mapped using fluorescence in situ hybridization. They were found as robust cytogenetic markers for karyotyping of meadow fescue and ryegrass species and their hybrids. The ability to purify chromosome 4F opens the way for more efficient analysis of genomic loci on this chromosome underlying important traits, including freezing tolerance. Our results confirm that next-generation sequencing of flow-sorted chromosomes enables an overview of chromosome structure and evolution at a resolution never achieved before.

Kopecký D ，Martis M ，Číhalíková J ，Hřibová E ，Vrána J ，Bartoš J ，Kopecká J ，Cattonaro F ，Stočes Š ，Novák P ，Neumann P ，Macas J ，Šimková H ，Studer B ，Asp T ，Baird JH ，Navrátil P ，Karafiátová M ，Kubaláková M ，Šafář J ，Mayer K ，Doležel J ... -  《-》

Repetitive DNA landscape in essential A and supernumerary B chromosomes of Festuca pratensis Huds.

Ebrahimzadegan R ，Houben A ，Mirzaghaderi G 《Scientific Reports》