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BackgroundWhite clover (Trifolium repens) is a ubiquitous weed of the temperate world that through use of improved cultivars has also become the most important legume of grazed pastures world-wide. It has long been suspected to be allotetraploid, but the diploid ancestral species have remained elusive. Putative diploid ancestors were indicated by DNA sequence phylogeny to be T. pallescens and T. occidentale. Here, we use further DNA evidence as well as a combination of molecular cytogenetics (FISH and GISH) and experimental hybridization to test the hypothesis that white clover originated as a hybrid between T. pallescens and T. occidentale.ResultsT. pallescens plants were identified with chloroplast trnL intron DNA sequences identical to those of white clover. Similarly, T. occidentale plants with nuclear ITS sequences identical to white clover were also identified. Reciprocal GISH experiments, alternately using labeled genomic DNA probes from each of the putative ancestral species on the same white clover cells, showed that half of the chromosomes hybridized with each probe. F1 hybrids were generated by embryo rescue and these showed strong interspecific chromosome pairing and produced a significant frequency of unreduced gametes, indicating the likely mode of polyploidization. The F1 hybrids are inter-fertile with white clover and function as synthetic white clovers, a valuable new resource for the re-incorporation of ancestral genomes into modern white clover for future plant breeding.ConclusionsEvidence from DNA sequence analyses, molecular cytogenetics, interspecific hybridization and breeding experiments supports the hypothesis that a diploid alpine species (T. pallescens) hybridized with a diploid coastal species (T. occidentale) to generate tetraploid T. repens. The coming together of these two narrowly adapted species (one alpine and the other maritime), along with allotetraploidy, has led to a transgressive hybrid with a broad adaptive range.

Chromosome banding studies allowed us to distinguish the sex chromosomes of the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), American rhea (Rhea americana), and Darwin’s rhea (Pterocnemia pennata). In each species, we identified the Z chromosome which is very similar to a carinate Z, and the slightly smaller W chromosome. Contrary to the uniformly heterochromatic carinate counterpart, the ratite W chromosome is euchromatic and retains remarkable banding homology to the Z chromosome.

By using three gene probes, one derived from the porcine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and two from bovine cytokeratin genes, type I (KRTA) and type II (KRTB), the hypothesis of conservation of genome structure in two members of the family Bovidae was examined. Gene mapping data revealed the MHC to be in chromosome region 23q15→q23 in cattle (BOLA) and 20q15→q23 in sheep (OLA). KRTA was localized to chromosome region 19q25→q29 in cattle and 11q25→q29 in sheep and KRTB to 5q14→q22 in cattle and 3q14→q22 in sheep. The banding patterns of the chromosome arms to which the loci were assigned were identical in both species. Moreover, the resemblances of GTG- or QFQ-banding patterns between the cattle and sheep karyotypes illustrated further chromosome homologies. These studies, based on gene mapping comparisons and comparative cytogenetics, document that within bovid chromosomes, homology of banding patterns corresponds to a homologous genetic structure. Hence, we propose that gene assignments on identified chromosomal segments in one species of the Bovidae can be extrapolated, in general, to other bovid species based on the banding homologies presented here.