Hybridization barriers between wheat and rye: In vitro pollen assays and electrophoretic survey

Summary Five- to seven-day-old ovaries from Triticum aestivum vars Hope (non-crossable), Chinese Spring (CS, crossable) and the chromosomal substitution line Chinese Spring/Hope 5B (CS/H5B) were used to test the hypothesis that an ovarian substance inhibits rye (Secale cereale var Wrens) pollen tube growth. In vitro assays on a semi-solid medium demonstrated that a soluble, dialyzed lysate from Hope or CS/H5B ovaries inhibited rye pollen tube elongation significantly more than a similar lysate from CS ovaries (26%, 13% and 5% respectively compared to controls). When only the 20 longest tubes from each sample were included in the analysis the relationship was maintained (33%, 22% and 15% for Hope, CS/H5B and CS respectively). Heating the Hope lysate at 100° C for 10 min reduced the inhibition from 26% to 14% for all pollen tubes measured (n = 51 per sample) and from 33% to 20% when only the 20 longest pollen tubes per sample were analyzed. Isoelectric focusing followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide electrophoresis (IEF/SDS-PAGE) and non-equilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis (NEPHGE) revealed several differences in the polypeptide profiles of soluble lysates from vars Hope, CS and CS/H5B. While two striking differences were observed, a 50 kilodalton (kD) polypeptide with an isoelectric point (pI) of approximately 8.5 and 100 kD polypeptide (pI4) from CS lysates which were considerably reduced in lysates of Hope and CS/H5B, none were obviously associated with the Hope 5B chromosome and therefore cross-incompatibility.Mention of a trademark or proprietary product is for identification only and does not imply a guarantee or warranty of the product by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.