Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Advertisement

Heredity
  • View all journals
  • Search
  • Log in
  • Content Explore content
  • About the journal
  • Publish with us
  • Sign up for alerts
  • RSS feed
  1. nature
  2. heredity
  3. original article
  4. article
Ribosomal RNA genes and the B chromosome of Brachycome dichromosomatica
Download PDF
Download PDF
  • Original Article
  • Published: 01 May 1995

Ribosomal RNA genes and the B chromosome of Brachycome dichromosomatica

  • Tamzin M Donald1,
  • Carolyn R Leach1,
  • Angela Clough1 &
  • …
  • Jeremy N Timmis1 

Heredity volume 74, pages 556–561 (1995)Cite this article

  • 882 Accesses

  • 33 Citations

  • 3 Altmetric

  • Metrics details

Abstract

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with biotinylated rDNA revealed the presence of an rRNA gene cluster on both the A and B chromosomes of Brachycome dichromosomatica, an Australian native ephemeral plant of the arid regions of south-eastern Australia. This species contains only two pairs of A chromosomes and up to three B chromosomes. The regular attachment of the B chromosome to a nucleolus suggests that these ribosomal RNA genes are transcribed. Southern hybridization of DNA from 0B and +B plants digested with a variety of restriction enzymes indicates that the rRNA genes on the A and B chromosomes are the same in sequence and methylation status.

Similar content being viewed by others

Out of patterns, the euchromatic B chromosome of the grasshopper Abracris flavolineata is not enriched in high-copy repeats

Article 04 September 2021

Whole-mount smFISH allows combining RNA and protein quantification at cellular and subcellular resolution

Article Open access 15 June 2023

Regulation of ribosomal RNA gene copy number, transcription and nucleolus organization in eukaryotes

Article 02 February 2023

Article PDF

References

  • Beukeboom, L W. 1994. Bewildering Bs: an impression of the 1st B-Chromosome Conference. Heredity, 73, 328–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabrero, J, Alche, J D, and Camacho, J P M. 1987. Effects of B chromosomes on the activity of nucleolar organiser regions in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans: activation of a latent nucleolar organiser region on a B chromosome fused to an autosome. Genome, 29, 116–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, C R. 1978. The cytology of Brachycome. 8. The inheritance, frequency and distribution of B chromosomes in B. dichromosomatica (n = 2), formerly included in B. lineariloba. Chromosoma, 67, 109–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, C R, and Smith-White, S W. 1972. The cytology of Brachycome lineariloba. 3. Accessory chromosomes. Chromosoma, 39, 361–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dover, G A, and Coen, E S. 1981. Springcleaning ribosomal DNA: a model for multigene evolution? Nature, 290, 731–732.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Green, D M. 1990. Muller's Ratchet and the evolution of supernumerary chromosomes. Genome, 33, 818–824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hizume, M, Kitazawa, N, Gu, Z, and Kondo, K. 1991. Variation of fluorescent chromosome band in Picea brachytyla var. complanta collected in Yunnan, China. Kromosomo, 2 (63–64), 2149–2158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamilena, M, Ruiz Rejón, C, and Ruiz Rejón, M. 1994. A molecular analysis of the origin of the Crepis capillaris B chromosome. J Cell Sci, 107, 703–708.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • John, U P, Leach, C R, and Timmis, J N. 1991. A sequence specific to B chromosomes in Brachycome dichromosomatica. Genome, 34, 739–744.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, R N, and Rees, H. 1982. B Chromosomes. Academic Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kavanagh, R N, and Timmis, J N. 1986. Heterogeneity of cucumber ribosomal DNA repeat units. Theor Appl Genet, 72, 337–345.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kiknadze, I I, Lopatin, O E, Rakisheva, A Z H, and Matmuratov, S A. 1992. Karyotype characteristics of Chironomus behningi Goetgh. (Diptera, Chironomidae). Siberskii Biologicheskii Zhurnal, 5, 3–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, S S, Fei, L, and Ye, C Y. 1991. Cytogenetic studies on three Oreolalax pelobatoides from Yunnan. Acta Zoologoca Sinica, 37, 216–223.

    Google Scholar 

  • López-León, M D, Cabrero, J, and Camacho, J M P. 1991. A nucleolus organiser region in a B chromosome inactivated by DNA methylation. Chromosoma, 100, 134–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-León, M D, Cabrero, J, Pardo, M C, Viseras, E, Camacho, J M P, and Santos, J L. 1993. Generating high variability of B chromosomes in Eyprepocnemis plorans (grasshopper). Heredity, 71, 352–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-León, M D, Neves, N, Schwarzacher, T, Heslop-Harrison, J S, Hewitt, G M, and Camacho, J P M. 1994. Possible origin of a B chromosome deduced from its DNA composition using double FISH technique. Chromosome Res, 2, 87–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabuchi, T. 1991. Nucleolus organisation and meiotic behaviour of B chromosomes in Hepatica nobilis. Genome, 34, 853–859.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McQuade, L R, Hill, R J, and Francis, D. 1994. B-chromosome systems in the greater glider, Petauroides volans (Marupialia: Pseudocheiridae) II. Investigation of B-chromosome DNA sequences isolated by micromanipulation and PCR. Cytogenet Cell Genet, 66, 155–161.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maluszynska, J, and Schweizer, D. 1989. Ribosomal RNA genes in B chromosomes of Crepis capillaris detected by non-radioactive in situ hybridization. Heredity, 62, 59–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miao, V P, Covert, S F, and Vanetten, H D. 1991. A fungal gene for antibiotic resistance on a dispensable (“B”) chromosome. Science, 254, 1773–1776.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, K M. 1993. Cytogenetic analysis of the paternal sex ratio chromosome of Nasonia vitripennis. Genome, 36, 157–161.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Salvador, L B, and Moreira-Filho, O. 1992. B chromosomes in Astyanax scabripinnis (Pisces, Characidae). Heredity, 69, 50–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, N S, and Possingham, J V. 1980. Chloroplast DNA in expanding spinach leaves. J Exp Bot, 123, 1081–1092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Southern, E M. 1975. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol, 98, 503–517.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suja, J A, Antonio, C, González-García, J M, and Rufas, J S. 1993. Supernumerary heterochromatic segments associated with the nucleolar chromosomes of Pyrgomorpha conica (Orthoptera) contain methylated rDNA sequences. Chromosoma, 102, 491–499.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe, K, Carter, C R, and Smith-White, S. 1975. The cytology of Brachycome lineariloba. 5. Chromosome relationships and phytogeny of the race A cytodemes (n = 2). Chromosoma, 52, 383–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yonenaga-Yassuda, Y, Assis, M D F L D, and Kasahara, S. 1992. Variability of the nucleolus organiser regions and the presence of the rDNA genes in the supernumerary chromosome of Akodon aviculoides (Cricetidae, Rodentia). Caryologia, 45, 163–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, The University of Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia

    Tamzin M Donald, Carolyn R Leach, Angela Clough & Jeremy N Timmis

Authors
  1. Tamzin M Donald
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carolyn R Leach
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Angela Clough
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jeremy N Timmis
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Donald, T., Leach, C., Clough, A. et al. Ribosomal RNA genes and the B chromosome of Brachycome dichromosomatica. Heredity 74, 556–561 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1995.77

Download citation

  • Received: 30 September 1994

  • Issue date: 01 May 1995

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1995.77

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Keywords

  • B chromosomes
  • Brachycome dichromosomatica
  • in situ hybridization
  • nucleolar organizer
  • rRNA genes

This article is cited by

  • IGS sequences in Cestrum present AT- and GC-rich conserved domains, with strong regulatory potential for 5S rDNA

    • Thaíssa Boldieri de Souza
    • Marcos Letaif Gaeta
    • André Luís Laforga Vanzela

    Molecular Biology Reports (2020)

  • Novel B-chromosome-specific transcriptionally active sequences are present throughout the maize B chromosome

    • Zi-Jie Hong
    • Jun-Xiang Xiao
    • Ya-Ming Cheng

    Molecular Genetics and Genomics (2020)

  • New species with B chromosomes discovered since 1980

    • Neil Jones

    The Nucleus (2017)

  • B chromosomes: from cytogenetics to systems biology

    • Guilherme T. Valente
    • Rafael T. Nakajima
    • Cesar Martins

    Chromosoma (2017)

  • Evolution and biology of supernumerary B chromosomes

    • Andreas Houben
    • Ali Mohammad Banaei-Moghaddam
    • Jeremy N. Timmis

    Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences (2014)

Download PDF

Advertisement

Explore content

  • Research articles
  • Reviews & Analysis
  • News & Comment
  • Podcasts
  • Current issue
  • Collections
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Sign up for alerts
  • RSS feed

About the journal

  • Journal Information
  • Open access publishing
  • About the Editors
  • Contact
  • About the Partner
  • For Advertisers
  • Subscribe

Publish with us

  • For Authors & Referees
  • Language editing services
  • Open access funding
  • Submit manuscript

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

  • Explore articles by subject
  • Find a job
  • Guide to authors
  • Editorial policies

Heredity (Heredity)

ISSN 1365-2540 (online)

ISSN 0018-067X (print)

nature.com sitemap

About Nature Portfolio

  • About us
  • Press releases
  • Press office
  • Contact us

Discover content

  • Journals A-Z
  • Articles by subject
  • protocols.io
  • Nature Index

Publishing policies

  • Nature portfolio policies
  • Open access

Author & Researcher services

  • Reprints & permissions
  • Research data
  • Language editing
  • Scientific editing
  • Nature Masterclasses
  • Research Solutions

Libraries & institutions

  • Librarian service & tools
  • Librarian portal
  • Open research
  • Recommend to library

Advertising & partnerships

  • Advertising
  • Partnerships & Services
  • Media kits
  • Branded content

Professional development

  • Nature Awards
  • Nature Careers
  • Nature Conferences

Regional websites

  • Nature Africa
  • Nature China
  • Nature India
  • Nature Japan
  • Nature Middle East
  • Privacy Policy
  • Use of cookies
  • Legal notice
  • Accessibility statement
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Your US state privacy rights
Springer Nature

© 2025 Springer Nature Limited