Molecular biological test for determining the frost tolerance of wheat andbarley varieties

A molecular biological test was elaborated to determine the frost resistanc e of wheat and barley varieties. The method was based on detailed examinati ons on the effect of low temperature on the maturing process of cytoplasmic ribosomal ribonucleic acids (crRNA) in wheat and barley genotypes with dif ferent degrees of frost resistance. Preliminary results indicate that, of t he precursors (pre-crRNAs) involved in the crRNA maturing process, the accu mulation of the precursor with a molecular mass of 1.4 million daltons (MD) exhibited a negative correlation with the frost resistance of the wheat an d barley genotypes examined, as characterised by the LT50 values. In elabor ating the test, wheat and barley varieties, wheat lines and chromosome subs titution lines with different degrees of frost tolerance were tested. The 1 .4 MD crRNA precursor was demonstrated by means of (H3PO4)-P-32 labelling a nd separated using polyaclylamide gel electrophoresis, while the liquid sci ntillation technique was used to measure radioactivity.