Microsatellite markers reveal chimeric origin of redesignated chromosome 4A of wheat from Triticum urartu and other species.

Although a new nomenclature has been adopted for wheat in which chromosome 4A (4AO) has been renamed 4B (4BN) and chromosome 4B (4BO) has been renamed 4A (4AN), their specific origin remains uncertain. The use of wheat microsatellite (WMS) markers mapped to chromosomes 4AN and 4BN in a set of polyploid wheats and diploid genome donors has unequivocally indicated that the entire short arm of 4AN, some part of 4ANL. and a segment of 4BNL were derived from Triticum urartu. The presence of a T. urartu-specific allele at locus gwm368 on 4BNL and of an Aegilops speltoides allele at locus gwm397 on 4ANL suggests the possibility of a reciprocal translocation between 4ANL and 4BNL. The subcentromeric and telomeric regions of 4ANL corresponding to heterochromatic C-bands were derived neither from diploid wheats nor from Ae. speltoides or Aegilops longissima.