Aneuploid marker assignment in hexaploid oat with the C genome as a reference for determining remnant homoeology.

Nullisomic lines of hexaploid oat Avena sativa L. (2n = 6x - 2 = 40, AACCDD) cultivar Sun II were used to assign 134 DNA sequences to 10 chromosome-associated syntenic groups. A limited set of ditelosomic lines allowed localization of subsets of these sequences to six chromosome arms. Advantages of using such aneuploids in mapping are in the assignment of gene families, monomorphic RFLP sequences, and oat linkage groups to chromosomes. The published hexaploid oat RFLP linkage map has 38 linkage groups, 17 more than expected on the basis of the haploid chromosome number. Using nullisomics, eight linkage groups were assigned to five physical chromosomes; using ditelosomics, three of these linkage groups were assigned to their respective chromosome arms. The A- and D-genome chromosome sets of oat are indistinguishable from each other based on different staining and genomic in situ hybridization techniques, while C-genome chromosomes are distinct. Because chromosomal rearrangements such as translocations and inversions have played an important role in the evolution of hexaploid oat, the distinction of C-genome chromosomes can be used to determine remnant homoeologous segments that exist in the other two genomes. Among the 10 syntenic groups identified, six chromosomes showed sequence homoeology believed to represent segmental homoeologous regions. Owing to various evolutionary forces, segmental homoeology instead of whole chromosome homoeology appears to best describe the genome organization in hexaploid oat.