Cytogenetics in the age of molecular genetics
Peng Zhang A C , Bernd Friebe B , Bikram Gill B and R. F. Park AA Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney, 107 Cobbitty Road, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia.
B Wheat Genetics Resource Center, Department of Plant Pathology, 4024 Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: pengzhang@camden.usyd.edu.au
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 58(6) 498-506 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR07054
Submitted: 9 February 2007 Accepted: 17 April 2007 Published: 26 June 2007
Abstract
From the beginning of the 20th Century, we have seen tremendous advances in knowledge and understanding in almost all biological disciplines, including genetics, molecular biology, structural and functional genomics, and biochemistry. Among these advances, cytogenetics has played an important role. This paper details some of the important milestones of modern cytogenetics. Included are the historical role of cytogenetics in genetic studies in general and the genetics stocks produced using cytogenetic techniques. The basic biological questions cytogenetics can address and the important role and practical applications of cytogenetics in applied sciences, such as in agriculture and in breeding for disease resistance in cereals, are also discussed. The goal of this paper is to show that cytogenetics remains important in the age of molecular genetics, because it is inseparable from overall genome analysis. Cytogenetics complements studies in other disciplines within the field of biology and provides the basis for linking genetics, molecular biology and genomics research.
Additional keywords: chromosome banding, fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), deletion lines, physical mapping, chromosome landmark, alien gene introgression.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Grains Research and Development Corporation, the Kansas Wheat Commission, and a special USDA grant to the Wheat Genetics Resource Center. We thank W. John Raupp, Duane Wilson, and Sami Hoxha for their excellent assistance; and Prof. Robert McIntosh and Dr Harbans Bariana for beneficial discussion.
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