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Comparative analyses reveal high levels of conserved colinearity between the finger millet and rice genomes

Theoretical and Applied Genetics volume 115, pages 489–499 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Finger millet is an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 36) grass that belongs to the Chloridoideae subfamily. A comparative analysis has been carried out to determine the relationship of the finger millet genome with that of rice. Six of the nine finger millet homoeologous groups corresponded to a single rice chromosome each. Each of the remaining three finger millet groups were orthologous to two rice chromosomes, and in all the three cases one rice chromosome was inserted into the centromeric region of a second rice chromosome to give the finger millet chromosomal configuration. All observed rearrangements were, among the grasses, unique to finger millet and, possibly, the Chloridoideae subfamily. Gene orders between rice and finger millet were highly conserved, with rearrangements being limited largely to single marker transpositions and small putative inversions encompassing at most three markers. Only some 10% of markers mapped to non-syntenic positions in rice and finger millet and the majority of these were located in the distal 14% of chromosome arms, supporting a possible correlation between recombination and sequence evolution as has previously been observed in wheat. A comparison of the organization of finger millet, Panicoideae and Pooideae genomes relative to rice allowed us to infer putative ancestral chromosome configurations in the grasses.

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Acknowledgments

MMD and S gratefully acknowledge PhD studentships from the Sir Halley Stewart Fund (UK) and Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (UK), respectively. Part of the work was funded by a grant from the McKnight Foundation and a training grant from the Kirkhouse Trust (UK) to KMD.

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Affiliations

  1. John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK

    Srinivasachary, Mathews M. Dida & Mike D. Gale

  2. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, 3111 Miller Plant Sciences, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Srinivasachary, Mathews M. Dida & Katrien M. Devos

  3. Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, 3111 Miller Plant Sciences, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Katrien M. Devos

  4. Department of Botany and Horticulture, Maseno University, P.O. Box 333, Maseno, Kenya

    Mathews M. Dida

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  1. Srinivasachary
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  2. Mathews M. Dida
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  3. Mike D. Gale
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  4. Katrien M. Devos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katrien M. Devos.

Additional information

Communicated by A. Kilian.

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Srinivasachary, Dida, M.M., Gale, M.D. et al. Comparative analyses reveal high levels of conserved colinearity between the finger millet and rice genomes. Theor Appl Genet 115, 489–499 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-007-0582-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-007-0582-5

Keywords

  • Linkage Group
  • Rice Chromosome
  • Finger Millet
  • Homoeologous Group
  • Rice Ortholog