Cr. Hampson et al., DOES THE GENOME OF CORYLUS-AVELLANA L CONTAIN SEQUENCES HOMOLOGOUS TOTHE SELF-INCOMPATIBILITY GENE OF BRASSICA, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 93(5-6), 1996, pp. 759-764
Self-incompatibility is a genetic mechanism enforcing cross-pollinatio
n in plants. Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) expresses the sporophytic
type of self-incompatibility, for which the molecular genetic basis is
characterized only in Brassica. The hypothesis that the hazelnut geno
me contains homologs of Brassica self-incompatibility genes was tested
. The S-locus glycoprotein gene (SLG) and the kinase-encoding domain o
f the S-receptor kinase (SRK) gene of B. oleracea L. were used to prob
e blots of genomic DNA from six genotypes of hazelnut. Weak hybridizat
ion with the SLG probe was detected for all hazelnut genotypes tested;
however, no-hybridization was detected with PCR-generated probes corr
esponding to two conserved regions of the SLG gene. One of these PCR p
robes included the region of SLG encoding the 11 invariant cysteine re
sidues that are an important structural feature of all S-family genes.
The present evidence suggests that hazelnut DNA hybridizing to SLG di
ffers significantly from the Brassica gene, and that the S-genes clone
d from Brassica will not be useful for exploring self-incompatibility
in hazelnut.