EUROPEAN PLANT CYTOGENETICS

2019 -

-

Incomplete wheat-Agropyron

amphiploid, (IWAA)

POACEAE

Incomplete wheat-Agropyron amphiploids

(2n=56) produced by the Russian breeder

N. V. Tsitsin are characterized by many

agronomically valuable traits, like

perenniality, winter hardiness, large spikes

and grains.

E.D. Badaeva & V.P. Upelniek (Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia)

Giemsa C-banded mitotic metaphase

chromosomes of incomplete wheat-

Agropyron amphiploid. All 42 wheat and

14 Agropyron chromosomes (designated

A-F) can be identified based on their C-

banding patterns.

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JANUARY Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

Alstroemeria longistaminea

ALSTROEMERIACEAE

A. longistaminea Mart. ex Schult. belongs to an

endemic South American genus of ornamental

plants. The karyotype (2n=16) is asymmetrical

and shows a variable number of B chromosomes.

T. Ribeiro, M. Vaio, L. Felix & M. Guerra (UdelaR, Montevideo, Uruguay; UFPB, Areia-PB, Brazil; UFPE, Recife-PE, Brazil)

SatDNA ALSAT155 is distributed as arrays of

variable length on the karyotype of A. logistaminea.

B chromosomes are arrowed.

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28

FEBRUARY

45S rDNA 45S rDNA DAPI

Merge

P. T. N. Hoang, V. Schubert, J. Fuchs & I. Schubert (IPK, Gatersleben, Germany)

45S rDNA FISH signals with two chromosome pairs

harboring 45S rDNA (pink dotted circles) and enlarged frame

(bottom right) with an extended (red and green) secondary

constriction.

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Wolffiella rotunda

ARACEAE

An aquatic duckweed species (2n = 82, 1914 Mbp) with ovate

shaped organismic structure (frond), mother (m) and

daughter (d) fronds are connected together (see below);

vegetative and reproductive fronds are similar; flowers

(arrowhead) and fruits may occur.

m

d

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

MARCH

Arabidopsis arenosa

BRASSICACEAE

A. arenosa possesses widespread diploid (2n=16) and

autotetraploid (4n=32) populations and has recently

become established as a model organism for investigating

how meiosis evolves to overcome the challenges faced by

newly formed autopolyploids.

C. Morgan & K. Bomblies (John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK)

Meiotic chromosomes of autotetraploid A. arenosa are

labelled for the cohesin subunit SMC3 (green),

synaptonemal complex protein ZYP1 (red) and chromatin

(blue) and imaged with super-resolution 3D-SIM

microscopy to investigate how autotetraploid chromosomes

pair and synapse during prophase I.

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

APRIL

Silene latifolia and Silene dioica

CARYOPHYLACEAE

S. latifolia and S. dioica (2n=24) are dioecious plants with

the heteromorphic sex chromosomes X and Y.

Most of LTR retrotransposons are preferentially

accumulated on either X or Y chromosomes suggesting

that retrotransposons proliferate sex-specifically in these

species.

Z. Kubat, E. Kejnovsky, B. Vyskot & R. Hobza (Institute of Biophysics, Brno, Czech Republic)

Mitotic chromosomes of S. latifolia and distrubution of two

closely related Ty3/gypsy LTR retrotransposon Athila

families (in red). The upper left figure shows Athila

accumulated on the X chromosome while the second

Athila family (bottom right) is accumulated on the Y

chromosome. Male flower of S. latifolia (upper right) and

female flower of S. dioica (bottom left) are depicted.

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MAY Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

Beta vulgaris

AMARANTHACEAE

B. vulgaris (sugar beet, 2n = 18) is the only sucrose

producing crop of temperate climate grown for the

production of sugar, vegetables, animal feed and

bioethanol.

T. Heitkam, H. Zhao, G. Tomaz Braz, J. Jiang & T. Schmidt (TU Dresden, Germany; Michigan State University, USA)

Two-color barcodes for sugar beet karyotyping.

Simultaneous fluorescent in situ hybridization of 54,720

differently labelled unique oligos derived from twenty-five

distal chromosome regions allowed the barcoding and

grouping of all chromosome pairs.

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

JUNE

Triticum aestivum

POACEAE

T. aestivum (2n=6x=42), bread wheat, is one of the most

important crops. It carries three homeologous genomes, but

forms 21 strict homologous bivalents at meiosis. This diploid-

like inheritance is controlled by the Pairing homoeologous 1

locus. During early meiosis, temporary centromere

associations are observed.

A. Sepsi, T. Schwarzacher & J.S. Heslop-Harrison (University of Leicester, UK)

Three- dimensionally reconstructed confocal image of an

early meiotic nucleus at zygotene of T. aestivum ‘Chinese

Spring’ labelled with antibodies to the centromere-specific

histone variant CENH3 (red) and the SC proteins Asy1

(unpaired lateral elements, green) and ZYP1 (central

elements in synapsed chromosomes, purple).

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JULY Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

Hordeum vulgare

POACEAE

H. vulgare (2n = 14) is a member of the grass

family and one of the main cereals cultivated

around the world. It serves as human and

animal food and is a main ingredient for beer

production.

YJ. Ahn & S. Heckmann (IPK, Gatersleben, Germany)

Meiotic pachytene chromosomes revealing

partial EdU staining (green) and DNA

counterstained with DAPI. EdU is

incorporated into DNA during replication and

can be detected following a chemical (Click)

reaction.

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2 µm

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1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

AUGUST

Aegilops crassa Boiss.

POACEAE

Two cytotypes of Ae. crassa (2n = 4x = 28 and 2n =

6x = 42) are available. It possesses important traits,

such as cytoplasmic male sterility, yield, seed quality

and salinity tolerance that is used for wheat

improvement.

G. Mirzaghaderi (University of Kurdistan, Iran)

Metaphase chromosomes of Ae. crassa are labelled

with three different tandem repeats (CTT)10 (green),

pTa535 (red) and pSc119 (blue). The distribution of

probes can be used for chromosome identification.

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10 µm

SEPTEMBER Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23/30 24 25 26 27 28 29

5

5

3

2

4

1

Arabidopsis thaliana

BRASSICACEAE

A. thaliana (2n=10) can easily be

treated with colchicine. By means

of this methodology, autotetraploid

plants (2n=20) are obtained.

P. Parra-Núñez, N. Fernández-Jiménez, M. Pradillo & J.L. Santos (UCM, Madrid, Spain)

Metaphase I from a wild-type A. thaliana autotetraploid plant. All chromosomes are associated as

quadrivalents, except chromosome 5, which appears as two bivalents. Chromosomes are identified

by FISH with 5S (red) and 45S rDNA (green) probes.

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5

5

3

2

4

1

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OCTOBER Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

5

5

3

2

4

1

J. Fuchs, Y.-J. Ahn, S. Dreissig,, S. Heckmann & A. Houben (IPK, Gatersleben, Germany)

Hordeum vulgare

POACEAE

Pollen grains, protected by a hard coat

made of sporopollenin, are the end product

of the male microgametogenesis in flowering

plants. Roughly 30% of flowering plants,

release their pollen at trinucleate stage (one

vegetative and two sperm nuclei).

Differences in size, shape and chromatin

condensation allow the flow cytometric

separation of vegetative and sperm nuclei

after propidium iodide staining.

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Fluorescence intensity

Sc

att

er

lig

ht

Intact barley pollen

Sperm nuclei

Fluorescence intensity

Sca

tte

r lig

ht

Generative nuclei

Vegetative nuclei

Intact barley pollen

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

NOVEMBER

Cuscuta europaea

CONVOLVULACEAE

C. europaea (2n=14) is a plant parasite,

whose chromosomes condense before

the nuclear membrane dissolves. As a

result, hollow orb-shaped mitotic

chromosomes are formed before tubulin

fibers attach and pull the chromosomes

into the metaphase plate.

S. Klemme, V. Schubert, P. Neumann & J. Macas (Czech Acad Sci, Biol Ctr, České Budějovice,

Czech Republic; IPK, Gatersleben, Germany)

Pre-mitotic chromosomes

of C. europaea. The same

cell from several

perspectives with surface

reconstruction.

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23/30 24/31 25 26 27 28 29

DECEMBER

Cardamine occulta

BRASSICACEAE

C. occulta is an octoploid weedy species (2n=8x=64) originated in

Eastern Asia. It has been introduced to other continents including

Europe and considered to be an invasive species. C. occulta most

probably originated through hybridization between tetraploid C.

scutata and C. kokaiensis (both 2n=32). Combination of different

parental (sub)genomes, adapted to distinct habitats, enabled to the

newly formed polyploid species to occupy new ecological niches.

T. Mandáková & M.A. Lysak (CEITEC, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic)

Four bivalents, species-specific chromosome rearrangements

and chromosome territories identified by comparative

chromosome painting, using Arabidopsis BAC contigs

corresponding to chromosome AK1, on pachytene and diakinetic

chromosomes, and in interphase nucleus.

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A Ca

B

Cb

A

B

C A

B C

C

Bb

Ba

A

AK1

AK1A

AK1K

AK1

AK1 AK1

AK1A AK1K

2020 JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL

Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 1 2 3 4 5 5 1 2 9 1 14 1 2 3 4 5

2 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 6 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 15 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

3 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 7 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 11 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

4 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 8 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 12 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 17 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

5 27 28 29 30 31 9 24 25 26 27 28 29 13 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 18 27 28 29 30

14 30 31

MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST

Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

18 1 2 3 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 27 1 2 3 4 5 31 1 2

19 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 24 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 28 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 32 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 25 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 29 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 33 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

21 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 34 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

22 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 27 29 30 31 27 28 29 30 31 35 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

36 31

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

36 1 2 3 4 5 6 40 1 2 3 4 44 1 49 1 2 3 4 5 6

37 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 41 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 45 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 50 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

38 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 42 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 46 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 51 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

39 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 43 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 47 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 52 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

40 28 29 30 44 26 27 28 29 30 31 48 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 53 28 29 30 31

49 30

Cover picture

Physical mapping of the 18S-5.8S-25S rDNA (green) and the 5S rDNA (magenta) by multi-colour FISH along larch

metaphase chromosomes.

PINACEAE Larix decidua (European Larch, 2n = 24) is a deciduous conifer, native to central Europe. Its tough,

durable and flexible wood is often used as timber.

I. Walter, T. Heitkam & T. Schmidt (TU Dresden, Germany)

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Sarah Houben and Karin Lipfert for the design as well as Regina Devrient for the production of

the calendar. The print was supported by the IPK Gatersleben. Finally, I would like to thank all colleagues who

provided the beautiful chromosome pictures.

Andreas Houben, IPK, Gatersleben, Germany

http://www.ipk-gatersleben.de/en/breeding-

research/chromosome-structure-and-function/ https://www.facebook.com/CSF1Houben/