Cytogenetics was established based on the "Chromosome theory of inheritance", proposed by Boveri and Sutton and evidenced by Morgan's lab in early stage of the 20 th centrary. With rapid development of related research areas, especially molecular genetics, cytogenetics developed from traditional into a new era, molecular cytogenetics in late 1960s. Featured by an established technique named DNA in situ hybridization (ISH), molecular cytogenetics has been applied in various research areas. ISH provids vivid and straightforward figures showing the virtual presence of DNA, RNA or proteins. In combination with genomics and cell biology tools, ISH and derived techniques have been widely used in studies of the origin, evolution, domestication of human, animal and plant, as well as wide hybridization and chromosome engineering. The physical location and order of DNA sequences revealed by ISH enables the detection of chromosomal re-arrangments among related species and gaps of assembled genome sequences. In addition, ISH using RNA or protein probes can reveal the location and quantification of transcripted RNA or translated protein. Since the 1970s, scientists from universities or institutes belonging to the Jiangsu Society of Genetics have initiated cytogenetics researches using various plant species. In recent years, research platforms for molecular cytogenetics have also been well established in Nanjing Agricultural University, Yangzhou University, Nanjing Forestry University, Jiangsu Xuhuai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Jiangsu Normal University. The application of molecular cytogenetics in plant evolution, wide hybridization, chromosome engineering, chromosome biology, genomics has been successful. Significant progresses have been achieved, both in basic and applied researches. In this paper, we will review main research progresses of plant cytogenetics in Jiangsu province, and discuss the potential development of this research area.
20世纪初“遗传的染色体学说”的提出和证明标志着细胞遗传学交叉学科建立,伴随相关学科的发展,20世纪60年代末期细胞遗传学又与分子遗传学相结合,建立发展了分子细胞遗传学交叉学科。分子细胞遗传学以DNA分子原位杂交技术为核心,不断拓展应用领域,为生命科学研究提供了直观、高效的技术手段。原位杂交技术与基因组、细胞生物学等技术结合,被广泛应用于人类、动物、植物的起源、进化、驯化等基础研究和远缘杂交、染色体工程等应用研究。通过形象地展示DNA、RNA、蛋白质在细胞中的实际位置,揭示DNA序列之间的实际位置和顺序、亲缘物种间的进化关系和结构重排、基因组拼接序列的质量、转录水平RNA和翻译水平蛋白质的位置和数量变化等。江苏省遗传学会会员单位南京农业大学、扬州大学、南京林业大学、江苏师范大学、徐淮地区农科院等自20世纪中期开展细胞遗传学理论技术研究,伴随学科发展不断创新,建立了较完善的分子细胞遗传技术体系,并成功应用于开展植物系统进化、远缘杂交、染色体工程、基因组学等研究,取得了一批研究成果。本文将主要综述江苏省在该领域取得的重要进展,并展望未来发展方向。.
Keywords: DNA in situ hybridization; Jiangsu Genetics Society; chromosome engineering; geneomics; molecular and cytogenetics.