An EST-enriched Comparative Map of Brassica oleracea and Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract
A detailed comparative map of Brassica oleracea andArabidopsis thaliana has been established based largely on mapping of Arabidopsis ESTs in two Arabidopsis and four Brassica populations. Based on conservative criteria for inferring synteny, “one to one correspondence” betweenBrassica and Arabidopsis chromosomes accounted for 57% of comparative loci. Based on 186 corresponding loci detected inB. oleracea and A. thaliana, at least 19 chromosome structural rearrangements differentiate B. oleracea andA. thaliana orthologs. Chromosomal duplication in the B. oleracea genome was strongly suggested by parallel arrangements of duplicated loci on different chromosomes, which accounted for 41% of loci mapped in Brassica. Based on 367 loci mapped, at least 22 chromosomal rearrangements differentiate B. oleracea homologs from one another. Triplication of some Brassica chromatin and duplication of some Arabidopsis chromatin were suggested by data that could not be accounted for by the one-to-one and duplication models, respectively. Twenty-seven probes detected three or more loci in Brassica, which represent 25.3% of the 367 loci mapped inBrassica. Thirty-one probes detected two or more loci inArabidopsis, which represent 23.7% of the 262 loci mapped inArabidopsis. Application of an EST-based, cross-species genomic framework to isolation of alleles conferring phenotypes unique to Brassica, as well as the challenges and opportunities in extrapolating genetic information from Arabidopsis toBrassica and to more distantly related crops, are discussed.