C-banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization studies of the wheat–alien hybrid 'Agrotana'

'Agrotana', a wheat-alien hybrid (2n = 56), is a potential source of resistance to common root rot, stem rust, wheat streak mosaic virus, and the wheat curl mite. However, the origin of 'Agrotana', reported to be durum wheat × Agropyron trichophorum (pubescent wheatgrass), is uncertain. The objective of this investigation was to determine the chromosome constitution of 'Agrotana' using C-banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques. The F1 hybrid of 'Agrotana' × 'Chinese Spring' wheat showed 7 I + 21 II in 14.9% of the pollen mother cells, evidence of the presence of the A, B, and D genomes in 'Agrotana'. The hybrid had 16 heavily C-banded chromosomes, namely 4A, and 1-7B of wheat, and a translocation that probably involved wheat chromosomes 2A and 2D. In situ hybridization using biotinylated genomic DNA of Ag. trichophorum cv. Greenleaf blocked with CS DNA failed to identify the alien chromosomes in 'Agrotana', indicating that the alien chromosomes were not likely derived from pubescent wheatgrass. In situ hybridization using labelled wheat genomic DNA blocked with 'Agrotana' DNA revealed that 'Agrotana' had 40 wheat, 14 alien, and 2 (a pair) wheat–alien translocated chromosomes. There was no homology between wheat and the alien chromosomes or chromosome segments involved in the wheat–alien recombinant. Two of the seven pairs of alien chromosomes were homoeologous to each other. The ability to identify alien chromatin in wheat using labelled wheat DNA instead of labelled alien DNA will be particularly useful in chromosome engineering of wheat germplasms having alien chromatin of unknown origin.Key words: wheat–alien hybrid, C-banding, fluorescence in situ hybridization, labelled wheat DNA as probe.