300128 VO Chromosome evolution in plants (2012W)

The purpose of the course is two-fold. First, it offers an overview of plant cytogenetic techniques: from traditional chromosome counting to more recently established techniques of chromosome painting (in situ hybridization) and immunocytochemistry. Second, it presents detailed and up-to-date information about plant chromosome structure (centromere, telomere etc.) and main types of DNA sequences used for cytogenetic analyses. The newest methods developed recently to analyse genome composition and to characterize different types of repetitive DNA is plant genomes (high-throughput sequencing) will also be introduced, examples (also from our own work) shown and discussed. The course introduces also types and consequences of chromosome rearrangements including polyploidy, in the context of chromosome evolution. The use of cytogenetic data (obtained from both classical and molecular cytogenetic studies) in inferring plant taxa relationships and in evolutionary studies of different plant groups will be discussed. The course will give the up-to-date overview of the state-of-art in the analyses of plant chromosomes.