F. Dong et al., Development and applications of a set of chromosome-specific cytogenetic DNA markers in potato, THEOR A GEN, 101(7), 2000, pp. 1001-1007
Reliable and easy to use techniques for chromosome identification are criti
cal for many aspects of cytogenetic research. Unfortunately, such technique
s are not available in many plant species, especially those with a large nu
mber of small chromosomes. Here we demonstrate that fluorescence in situ hy
bridization (FISH) signals derived from bacterial artificial chromosomes (B
ACs) can be used as chromosome-specific cytogenetic DNA markers for chromos
ome identification in potato. We screened a potato BAC library using geneti
cally mapped restriction fragment length polymorphism markers as probes. Th
e identified BAC clones were then labeled as probes for FISH analysis. A se
t of 12 chromosome-specific BAC clones were isolated and the FISH signals d
erived from these BAC clones serve as convenient and reliable cytological m
arkers for potato chromosome identification. We mapped the 5S rRNA genes, t
he 45S rRNA genes, and a potato late blight resistance gene to three specif
ic potato chromosomes using the chromosome-specific BAC clones.