Cytological analysis on the distribution and origin of the alien chromosome pair conferring blue aleurone color in several European common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) strains.

Meiotic chromosome pairing and Giemsa C-banding analyses in crosses of several European blue-grained wheat strains with Chinese Spring double ditelosomic and other aneuploid lines showed that Triticum aestivum Blaukorn strains "Berlin," "Probstdorf," "Tschermak," and "Weihenstephan" are chromosome substitutions, in which the complete wheat chromosome 4A pair is replaced, whereas the strains "Brünn" and "Moskau" are 4B substitutions. The alien chromosome pair in all of these strains is an A genome chromosome (4A) from diploid Triticum monococcum or T. boeoticum not present in common tetraploid and hexaploid cultivated wheats. The Blaukorn strain Weihenstephan "W 70a86" possesses, in addition to a rye chromosome pair 5R compensating for the loss of part of chromosome 5D, a 4A/5DL translocation replacing chromosome pair 4B of wheat.