METAPHASE I PAIRING FREQUENCIES OF INDIVIDUAL AGROPYRON ELONGATUM CHROMOSOME ARMS WITH TRITICUM CHROMOSOMES

Abstract

Ten telocentric chromosomes of diploid Agropyron elongatum (Host.) P.B. (2n = 14) were added to the chromosome complement of Triticum aestivum L. emend. Thell. The ditelosomic additions were crossed with Triticum speltoides (Tausch) Gren. ex Richter, and in the tetraploid hybrids the pairing frequencies of the telosomes were determined, expressed as percent of PMC's in which a telosome paired at metaphase I. All Agropyron telosomes paired with Triticum chromosomes. The pairing frequencies ranged from 4.4% to 41.2% of the PMC's, it is concluded that none of the ten Agropyron chromosome arms has a homologous partner among the four Triticum genomes involved. The pairing frequencies did not correlate with the lengths of the telosomes. Pairing of the Agropyron telosomes in these tetraploid hybrids approximated the chromosome pairing that occurred in a diploid hybrid T. tauschii (Coss.) Schmal. (the donor of the D genome of T. aestivum) × A. elongatum.