Abstract
Silene latifolia is a dioecious model plant. Its sex determination is controlled by an active Y chromosome. Several attempts have been made to isolate sex determination factors. However, Y chromosome-specific genes have not been identified. To study genes encoded on the Y chromosome, we constructed an S. latifolia BAC library and screened it with Y chromosome-specific STS markers. We identified seven Y chromosome-derived BAC clones. A BAC clone, MS2-9d12F, was selected by the Southern blot hybridization pattern. MS2-9d12F showed different hybridization patterns between genomic DNAs of males and females. Sequencing of MS2-9d12F was performed by shotgun sequence. The insert of MS2-9d12F is 120 kb and encodes CCLS96.1 and 48 ORFs that are longer than 100 amino acid residues. Twenty-four ORFs show significant homology to retroelements. Three ORFs (ORF128, ORF155 and ORF211) have similarities to known proteins in the databases.
