Radiation Induced Wheat-Rye Chromosomal Translocations in Triticale : Optimizing the Dose Using Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization

Abstract

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was utilized to monitor the level of ionizing radiation (⁶⁰Co source) in their ability to cause intra-and intergeneric chromosomal aberrations in triticale seeds. Seeds were irradiated with 0, 20, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 1000 Gy doses. The root growth of irradiated seeds was greatly inhibited at 200 Gy and above. Various types of aberrations including wheat-rye, wheat-wheat, rye-rye, wheat-rye-wheat, rye-wheat-rye translocations and acentric fragments with or without translocations were observed. There was a consistent increase in proportion of aberrations per cell with an increase in radiation dose. It was concluded that for an optimal level of chromosomal translocation and least number of acentric fragments, a 20 Gy dose was quite sufficient for inducing a desirable level of wheat-rye chromosomal translocations. The excellent efficiency and importance of utilizing FISH in such studies of alien-introgression via chromosomal translocations are discussed.