Karyological studies in Triticum monococcum subsp. aegilopoides and Aegilops cylindrica species grown wild pairwise in west Iran

The wild-relative gene pools of wheat are a rich source of genetic variation for wheat improvement.Karyotypes of eight genotypes of Triticum monococcum subsp. aegilopoides and eight genotypes of Aegilops cylindrica,which grown wild next to each other in different regions in the west of Iran were studied. Root tips were treated in α-bromonaphthalene solution, fixed in chromic acid-formaldehyde fluid, hydrolyzed in 1 N NaOH and staining with hematoxylin. Variation observed in karyotypic formulas of A. cylindrica showing some structural changes of the chromosomes. Aegilops cylindrica classified in 3A class and T. m. subsp. aegilopoides classified in 1A class of Stebbin's classification. Triticummonococcum. subsp. aegilopoides has been suggested to be a relatively old origin because possessing metacentric chromosomes while submetacentric and subtelocentric chromosomes in A. cylindrica suggest a relatively recent origin of the species. The karyotypic symmetry indices used in this study pointed to a much more asymmetric karyotype of A.cylindrica than T. m. subsp. aegilopoides.