Stenostachys genomes/title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </head> <body> <p>Abstract submitted to the International Grasslands Conference </p> <p><strong>Relationships between the New Zealand <em>Triticeae </em></strong></p> <p>Alan V Stewart, Nick Ellison 1 </p> <p>PGG Seeds, PO Box 3100 , Christchurch 8015, New Zealand . </p> <p>1 AgResearch, Private Bag 11008 Palmerston North, New Zealand . </p> <p><a href="mailto:alan.stewart@pggseeds.com">alan.stewart@pggseeds.com </a></p> <p>Keywords: New Zealand , <em>Elymus, Stenostachys </em></p> <p>The New Zealand flora contains 3 genera within the Triticeae, <em>Elymus, Australopryum </em> and <em>Stenostachys </em>. ITS and cpDNA sequence analysis was carried out on members of the New Zealand <em>Elymus </em> and <em>Stenostachys </em>. The genomic constitution of the hexaploid <em>Elymus</em> has been previously determined as <strong>StYW </strong>, the <em>Australopyrum </em> as <strong>W </strong> and <em>Elymus enysii </em>as <strong>HW </strong> (Svitashev et al. 1998, Connor and Edgar 2000). To date the genomic constitution of the tetraploid <em>Stenostachys </em> and octoploid <em>Elymus tenuis </em> has been unclear. </p> <p>ITS sequence showed two distinct clades. The first contained the hexaploid and octoploid <em>Elymus </em>species and the second contained the two tetraploids <em>Stenostachys laevis and S. gracilis</em>, diploid <em>Australopyrum calcis </em>and tetraploid <em> Elymus enysii. </em></p> <p>This is interpreted to mean that ITS majority sequence in the hexaploid and octoploid <em>Elymus </em>clade is the <strong>St </strong> or <strong>Y </strong> genome while the majority ITS sequence in the other <em>Stenostachys, Australopyrum </em> and <em>E. enysii </em> clade is the <strong>W </strong> genome. Genbank searches of species with closely aligning sequences of non-New Zealand species show that the closest sequence to New Zealand hexaploid <em>Elymus </em> are <em>Elymus </em> and <em>Secale sp, </em> and the closest to <em>Elymus enysii </em> are the Australian <em>Australopyrum </em>. </p> <p>CpDNa sequence showed two distinct clades. The first containing the hexaploid and octoploid <em>Elymus </em>and <em>Australopyrum calcis </em> and the second the two <em>Stenostachys </em> and <em>Elymus enysii </em>. </p> <p>The cpDNA result suggests that the maternal genome of the hexaploid and octoploid <em>Elymus </em> is the <strong>W </strong> genome of <em>Australopyrum </em> while the maternal genome of <em>Stenostachys </em>and <em>Elymus enysii </em> is the <strong>H </strong> genome. Genbank searches of species with closely aligning sequences of non-New Zealand species show that the closest sequence to New Zealand hexaploid <em>Elymus </em> is <em>Elymus wawawaiensis </em> of North America ; the closest to New Zealand <em>Australopyrum calcis </em> are the Australian <em>Australopyrum </em> species followed by <em>Agropyrum mongolicum </em>; and the closest to <em>Elymus enysii </em> is <em>Hordeum jubatum </em>. </p> <p>These data suggest that the genomic constitution of <em>Stenostachys </em> is <strong>HW</strong>, the same as <em>Elymus enysii </em>. </p> <p><strong>References </strong></p> <p>Connor H. E. and Edgar E. 2000 Flora of New Zealand . Volume V Gramineae. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln , New Zealand 650 pp </p> <p>Svitashev S., Bryngelsson T., Li X., Wang R.R.-C 1998 Genome-specific repetitive DNA and RAPD markers for genome identification in Elymus and Hordelymus. <em>Genome </em><strong>41 </strong>: 120-128 </p> </body> </html>