The genus Chenopodium contains many economically important species in the New World, but is relatively understudied and poorly understood, especially in terms of evolutionary relationships. A better understanding of the structure of this genus could significantly help in breeding efforts on its cultivated members, notably the tetraploid C. quinoa and also certain varieties of C. berlandieri, also tetraploid. Of special concern is determining which diploid weed species are the most likely ancestors for C. quinoa, C. berlandieri, and the other tetraploid members of subsection Cellulata. The phylogeny can be understood in part by examining the ribosomal RNA loci and observing how many copies of the 5S and 45S loci each New World species contains. In this work, the 5S and 45S ribosomal RNA loci are characterized by means of fluorescence in situ hybridization in 23 Chenopodium species collected in the New World, with the 5S locus labeled red and the 45S locus labeled green. Based on these results, the pool of most likely candidate ancestor species for C. quinoa and C. berlandieri includes C. fremontii, C. incanum, C. neomexicanum, and C. watsonii.
College and Department
Life Sciences; Plant and Wildlife Sciences
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Sederberg, Maria C., "Physical Mapping of Ribosomal Genes in New World Members of the Genus Chenopodium Using Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization" (2008). All Theses and Dissertations. 1629.
Chenopodium, quinoa, tetraploid, diploid, fluorescence in situ hybridization, FISH, New World, phylogeny, rRNA