Identification of the apomixis-controlling region (ACR) in the genome of the diploid sexual cytotype of P. notatum

PODIO, MARICEL; ROHR, CRISTIAN; SPOTO, NICOLAS; GRISOLIA, MAURICIO; ORTIZ, JUAN PABLO A.; STEIN, JULIANA; PESSINO, SILVINA C.

Mendoza

Congreso; XVII Congreso Latinoamericano de Genética; 2019

Apomixis is an asexual mode of reproduction by seeds associated with polyploidy. It is an advantageous trait for agriculture because it guarantees the maintenance of heterosis. P. notatum forms a multiploid species with diploid sexual self-sterile and polyploid aposporous apomictic self-fertile cytotypes. Apomixis in the tetraploid race is controlled by a single chromosomal region (ACR) that showed segregation distortion, lack of recombination and synteny with segments of rice chromosomes 2 and 12. Apospory (one of the apomixis components) was observed in diploid genotypes, although with low expressivity. The objectives of this work were to localize the homologous region/s of the ACR in the diploid genome and identify putative candidates. A draft assembly of the diploid genome, generated by a combination of Illumina® and Oxford Nanopore® reads, was used as a reference. Twenty ACR-specific sequences from the tetraploid genotype Q4117 were blasted (BLASTN, score> 250, Evalue e