Genome-plasmon interactions in wheat

This article reviews our studies of plastome, chondriome and plasmon diversity among Triticum (wheat) and Aegilops species, and of interactions among wheat genomes and alien plasmons. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of chloroplast and mitochondrial DNAs of nearly all species of those genera were studied by means of restriction endonuclease analysis and Southern hybridization analysis. The results show that the plasmons of the two genera can be classified into 18 types, most of which appear to have diversified at the diploid level. The maternal lineages of most polyploid species, including emmer, timopheevi and common wheats, can be ascertained. These results have been supported by the observed differences in the effects of alien plasmons on various characters of 12 common wheats. The phenotypic outcomes of the interactions between wheat genomes and alien plasmons were, in some cases, novel; several may be of practical use. The genes involved in these interactions were analyzed using various aneuploids of a common wheat Chinese Spring.