Genetic control of meiotic chromosome pairing in polyploids in the genus Hordeum

Abstract

Existing data on meiosis in hexaploid and tetraploid species of Hordeum, their respective polyhaploids, and intergeneric - interspecific hybrids indicate that a meiotic pairing control system exists in this genus. The system is probably polygenic and it is therefore unlikely that a major locus such as Ph in Triticum controls chromosome pairing. It is more efficient in the tetraploids than hexaploids, permitting some intergenomic pairing in the latter. In the polyhaploids the pairing control is somewhat hemizygous ineffective. The pairing of homoeologous chromosomes in the wild polyploid Hordeum species is generally inhibited by H. vulgare and variably enhanced by genomes of Secale species.