Inter- and intra-genomic homology of the Brassica genomes: implications for their origin and evolution

In order to determine the homologous regions shared by the cultivated Brassica genomes, linkage maps of the diploid cultivated B. rapa (A genome, n = 10), B. nigra (B genome, n = 8) and B. oleracea (C genome, n = 9), were compared. We found intergenomic conserved regions but with extensitve reordering among the genomes. Eighteen linkage groups from all three species could be associated on the basis of homologous segments based on at least three common markers. Intragenomic homologous conservation was also observed for some of the chromosomes of the A, B and C genomes. A possible chromosome phylogenetic pathway based on an ancestral genome of at least five, and no more than seven chromosomes, was drawn from the chromosomal inter-relationships observed. These results demonstrate that extensive duplication and rearrangement have been involved in the formation of the Brassica genomes from a smaller ancestral genome.