A Y genome specific STS marker in Pseudoroegneria and Elymus species (Triticeae: Gramineae)

The tribe Triticeae Dumortier in the grass family (Poaceae) includes the most important cereal crops (e.g., wheat, barley, and rye) and some economically important forage grasses. Elymus L. is the largest and most complex genus in the Triticeae tribe with approximately 150 species occurring worldwide. The genomic constitutions of approximately 40% of Elymus species are unknown and some have unverified genomic combinations. Of those known for genome constitutions, Elymus species have a genomic formula of StH, StP, StY, StStY, StHY, StPY, or StWY. However, the origin of the Y genome is unknown because no diploid species have been identified as the Y genome donor. A putative Y genome specific random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker was converted to a sequence tagged site (STS) marker. The reliability of this STS marker for confirming the presence of the Y genome was demonstrated using 42 accessions of Elymus. The STS-PCR for the Y genome marker was then assayed on 43 accessions of diploid Pseudoroegneria (Nevski) A. Löve species having the St genome to identify possible donors of the Y genome. A rare accession of Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) A. Löve was found to possess sequences that most closely related to those from the tetraploid Elymus longearistatus (Boiss.) Tzvelev (StStYY), making P. spicata the most likely donor of the Y genome, although Pseudoroegneria libanotica (Heck.) D.R. Dewey or other Pseudoroegneria species could not be excluded. Our findings support the hypothesis that the Y genome in some Elymus species shares a progenitor genome (designated StY) with the St genome of Pseudoroegneria.