Alien Introgression in Wheat Cytogenetics, Molecular Biology, and Genomics

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segment carrying the crossability allele was further reduced in the Mv9 back-
ground, so the genotype was 99.22 % Mv9, but had very high crossability with rye
(Table 4.1 ).
This crossable winter wheat line (Mv9 kr1) is well adapted to Central European
environmental conditio ns, and has much better agronomic traits than Chinese
Spring (Fig. 4.2 ). The Mv9 kr1 line is now used as maternal parent in wheat-alien
hybridization experiments in Martonvásár (Molnár-Láng et al. 2002 ). This has the
advantage that the alien genes can be transferred directly into a winter wheat line
with strong stems, good yielding ability, good quality, and good winter hardiness,

Table 4.1 Crossability of the Martonv á sári 9 kr1 (Mv9 kr1), Mv Magdaléna kr1 and Mv Béres
kr1 wheat lines and the initial wheat cultivars Mv9, Mv Magdaléna and Mv Béres when pollinated
with rye ( Secale cereale ) cv. Ryefood

Wheat genotype Year Pollinator

Pollinated fl orets/

spike

Seed set

% Deviation

Mv9 kr1/BC 5 a 2013 Rye 340/9 40.3 14.02

2014 Rye 546/16 53.1 17.85

Mv9 kr1/BC 6 b 2013 Rye 520/18 47.0 14.55

2014 Rye 428/14 60.2 13.27

Mv9 2013 Rye 84/4 3.1 6.25

2014 Rye 134/5 0 –

Mv Magdaléna kr1 c 2013 Rye 274/9 65.5 12.77

2014 Rye 368/9 54.9 14.02

Mv Magdaléna 2013 Rye 88/3 2.15 1.86

2014 Rye 182/5 6.8 4.33

Mv Béres kr1 d 2013 Rye 272/9 53.4 19.3

2014 Rye 168/5 60.9 17.39

Mv Béres 2013 Rye 94/3 0 -

2014 Rye 184/5 2.1 3.4

The crossability allele kr1 was transferred from Chine se Spring into the wheat cultivar Martonvásári
9 (Molnár-Láng et al. 1996 ) and then further transferred from Mv9 kr1 into the modern Martonvásár
wheat cultivars Mv Magdaléna and Mv Béres, which carry the 1RS. 1BL translocation (Molnár-
Láng et al. 2010 ). The emasculated wheat spikes were pollinated with rye in the fi eld in Martonvásár
in May 2013 and 2014
a Mv9kr1/BC 5 Wheat cultivar Mv9 was cro ssed w ith CS, and the hybrid was backcrossed with Mv9
fi ve times. After each backcross two consecutive self-pollinated generations were tested for cross-
ability with rye in order to select lines carrying crossability allele kr1 in the homozygous state
b Mv9kr1/BC 6 The Mv9 × CS hybrid was backcrossed with Mv9 six times. After each backcross
two consecutive self-pollinated generations were tested for crossability in order to select lines
which carrying crossability allele kr1 in homozygous state
c Mv Magdaléna kr1 Wheat cultivar Mv Magdaléna was crossed with Mv9kr1, and plants with high
crossability with rye were selected from the F 2 generation (Molnár-Láng et al. 2010 ). Mv
Magdaléna kr1 is the sixth self-pollinated generation of the selected F 2 plants
d Mv Béres kr1. Wheat cultivar Mv Béres w as crossed with Mv9kr1, and plants with high cross-
ability with rye were selected from the F 2 generation (Molnár-Láng et al. 2010 ). Mv Béres kr1 is
the sixth self-pollinated generation of the selected F 2 plants

4 The Crossability of Wheat with Rye and Other Related Species