TY - JOUR

T1 - Characterization of interspecific hybrids of Petunia and Calibrachoa by multiplex PCR, DNA content, and chromosome number

AU - Jędrzejuk, Agata

AU - Meyer, Lara

AU - Serek, Margrethe

N1 - The experimental work was partly supported by a DAAD grant in the years 2009–2011. The authors would like to thank Prof. em. Bjarne M. Stummann (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) for his valuable advice and critical review of the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank the technical and scientific staff of the Institute of Horicultural Production Systems, Section of Floricurture at Leibniz Universität Hannover for technical assistance and valuable advice concerning manuscript preparation.

PY - 2017/9/3

Y1 - 2017/9/3

N2 - Petunia and Calibrachoa are ornamental plants of worldwide economic importance. Commercially, it is useful to combine desirable characteristics of Calibrachoa, including the large diversity of flower colors, with the pH tolerance and vigorous growth of Petunia. For investigation of interspecific hybrids between Petunia and Calibrachoa we used four different introns with flanking exon areas, each from a different gene and with a different sequence for Petunia and Calibrachoa, as genus-specific markers for chromosomes in interspecific hybrids. PCR primers specific for Petunia and Calabrachoa were made from the determined sequences and tested on a range of presumed hybrids using multiplex PCR, which confirmed that the hybrids were derived from these two species. Flow cytometry demonstrated that the hybrids were triploid, and determination of chromosome numbers showed that two of the chromosome sets were from Calibrachoa, i.e. that the other parent, Petunia, was diploid. Similar methods can be used for molecular characterization of other new hybrids made between closely related species or cultivars.

AB - Petunia and Calibrachoa are ornamental plants of worldwide economic importance. Commercially, it is useful to combine desirable characteristics of Calibrachoa, including the large diversity of flower colors, with the pH tolerance and vigorous growth of Petunia. For investigation of interspecific hybrids between Petunia and Calibrachoa we used four different introns with flanking exon areas, each from a different gene and with a different sequence for Petunia and Calibrachoa, as genus-specific markers for chromosomes in interspecific hybrids. PCR primers specific for Petunia and Calabrachoa were made from the determined sequences and tested on a range of presumed hybrids using multiplex PCR, which confirmed that the hybrids were derived from these two species. Flow cytometry demonstrated that the hybrids were triploid, and determination of chromosome numbers showed that two of the chromosome sets were from Calibrachoa, i.e. that the other parent, Petunia, was diploid. Similar methods can be used for molecular characterization of other new hybrids made between closely related species or cultivars.

KW - Calibrachoa sp

KW - Interspecific hybrids

KW - multiplex PCR

KW - Petunia hybrida

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85015173703&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/14620316.2017.1288554

DO - 10.1080/14620316.2017.1288554

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85015173703

VL - 92

SP - 493

EP - 501

JO - Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology

JF - Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology

SN - 1462-0316

IS - 5

ER -