Sexy ways: approaches to studying plant sex chromosomes.

Sex chromosomes have evolved in many plant species with separate sexes. Current plant research is shifting from examining the structure of sex chromosomes to exploring their functional aspects. New studies are progressively unveiling the specific genetic and epigenetic mechanisms responsible for shaping distinct sexes in plants. While the fundamental methods of molecular biology and genomics are generally employed for the analysis of sex chromosomes, it is often necessary to modify classical procedures not only to simplify and expedite analyses but sometimes to make them possible at all. In this review, we demonstrate how, at the level of structural and functional genetics, cytogenetics, and bioinformatics, it is essential to adapt established procedures for sex chromosome analysis.

Gametocidal System for Dissecting Wheat Chromosomes.

Gametocidal (Gc) system is a novel method of inducing chromosome mutations in wheat by using Gc genes of wheat-related species. Many deletion lines were efficiently produced by this system and used for physical mapping of genes and DNA markers. A large stocks with chromosome deletions in homozygous state as well as the lines with Gc genes are available in the gene bank of Japan (KOMUGI). In this chapter, I describe the method of inducing breakage in a target chromosome using lines with the Gc gene on chromosome 2C of Aegilops cylindrica (a wheat-related wild species) and nullisomic-tetrasomics.