Meiotic pairing was studied at metaphase I in three different cv. Chinese Spring × rye hybrid combinations (5B deficient, 3D deficient, and normal ABDR) to establish the arm homoeology of wheat and rye chromosomes. The majority of individual wheat chromosomes and their arms, as well as the arms of chromosomes 1R and 5R, were identified by means of C-banding. The results on pairing relationships support the genome reallocation of chromosomes 4A and 4B. The short arms of wheat chromosomes belonging to homoeologous groups 1, 3, 5, and 6 and of chromosome pairs 4A–4D and 7A–7D showed full pairing homoeology as well as the long arms of wheat chromosomes of groups 1, 3, 6, and 7 and of chromosome pairs 4A–4D and 5B–5D. Chromosomes 2A, 2B, and 2D were homoeologous, but the homoeologies of their arms were not identified. Reduced homoeologies of the 4BL arm to 7AS and 7DS, of the 5AL arm to 4AL and 4DL, and of the 7BS arm to 5BL and 5DL were identified. Arms 4BL, 5AL, and 7BS are involved in a double translocation that arose during the evolution of common wheat. The homoeology relationships of chromosome arm 4BS were not identified since this arm seldom paired. The homoeologous pairing pattern between wheat chromosomes was characterized by a remarkable predominance of A–D associations, altered only by structural changes in groups 4 and 5. Chromosome arm 1RL showed full pairing homoeology to 1AL, 1BL, and 1DL, while 5RL was homoeologous to 5AL and partially homoeologous to 4AL and 4DL. It is concluded that 5RL carries a translocated segment from 4RL. Key words: homoeologous pairing, translocations, wheat evolution, C-banding.
