Detection of alien chromatin conferring resistance to the beet cyst nematode (Heterodera schachtii Schm.) in cultivated beet (Beta vulgaris L.) using in situ hybridization.

Chromatin originating from wild beets of the genus Beta, section Procumbentes, has been investigated in nematode-resistant hybrid-derived lines of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) by in situ hybridization using satellite, telomeric and ribosomal DNA repeats, a yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) and total genomic DNA as probes. The allen chromosome was detected in three monosomic addition lines (2n = 18 + 1) by genomic in situ hybridization. Fluorescence in situ hybridization with a genome-specific satellite repeat and YAC DNA enabled the visualization of Procumbentes chromosomes, and in double-target hybridization it was shown that they do not carry 18S-5.8S-25S rRNA and 5S rRNA genes. The wild beet-specific satellite repeat and the telomere sequence from Arabidopsis thaliana were used to perform a structural analysis of the wild beet chromosome fragments of two resistant fragment addition lines. It was shown that one physical end of the chromosome fragments consists of telomeric repeats. Comparison of fragment sizes indicated that the small chromosome fragments harbouring the resistance gene most likely resulted from the loss of one wild beet chromosome arm and an internal deletion of the remaining arm.