Objective
This project will investigate molecular and physical (chromosomal) organisation and evolution of nuclear repetitive DNA sequences in the plant family Solanaceae, which contains important sources of food crops and medicinal alkaloids. The information gained will be used, first, as an indicator of phylogenetic relationships among species and genera of Solanaceae and, secondly, to provide an insight into the role of repetitive DNA sequences in plant genome structure, function and evolution. Sequences from the ribosomal gene clusters, highly repeated (satellite) DNAs and dispersed repetitive sequences from Solanum and Nicotiana will be used to obtain PCR-derived probes to locate related DNA fragments in the genomes of different species and genera. The fragments will be cloned and their sequence and organisation compared in a variety of Solanaceae, particularly at the species level and below. The sequences obtained will contribute to the number of individual repetitive DNA sequences and categories of repeats known for plants and for eukaryotes as a whole.
In situ hybridisation (ISH) of the cloned repeated sequences to chromosomes will allow a comparison of physical organisation of the repeated sequences (e.g. whether in euchromatin or heterochromatin). ISH will also enable genome interaction in natural and artificial hybrids to be monitored and will determine the spread of different repeated sequence families across linkage groups within and among genotypes, species and/or genera after natural speciation processes or artificial selection.
Co-operation between the four institutes involved, and the combined use of their different expertise and plant materials, will greatly increase the speed at which sequence analysis can proceed and the depth of comparisons that can be achieved for the genomes of different genera and species of Solanaceae. In particular, it will allow the relative organisation of a wide spectrum of genomes to be covered, especially those of small, rarely studied genera and unusual hybrid species combinations.
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
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TW9 3DS Richmond
United Kingdom