Microdissection and Microcloning of Chromosome 5 in Gossypium arboreum

Construction of single chromosomal DNA libraries by chromosome micromanipulation is a useful tool for pursuing genomic studies. Thus far, micromanipulation in cotton has not been reported yet, which may be due to difficulty in preparing chromosomes of similar sizes. In this study, single chromosome micromanipulation was successfully achieved in cotton. A single chromosome 5 of Gossypium arboreum (cultivar Shixiya-1) carrying a large satellite at mitotic metaphase was isolated by microdissection using the Cell Cut Plus Laser micromanipulation system. The chromosomal DNA was digested by Sau 3A and ligated to Sau 3A linker adaptors. After two rounds of linker adaptor PCR (LA-PCR) amplification, DNA fragments ranging from 300 to 2,500 bp were acquired. Southern hybridization revealed that the PCR products had homology with genomic DNA of the cultivar Shixiya-1, indicating that DNA of chromosome 5 has been successfully amplified. The second round LA-PCR products and 45S rDNA and chromosome-specific BAC clones were used as probes for fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis on metaphase chromosome. The results confirmed that the LA-PCR products were derived from the isolated target chromosome. Hybridization signals of the second round LA-PCR products were mainly detected along the entire chromosome 5; in addition, weak signals were also observed on other chromosomes, indicating that there were some homologous nucleotide sequences in other chromosomes. The second round LA-PCR products were cloned to generate a chromosome-specific DNA library which contains approximately 173,000 clones. Evaluation based on 136 randomly selected clones showed that the size of the inserts varied from 500 to 1,800 bp with an average of 750 bp. The no-load rate was less than 1 %, the titer of the library was 1.2 x 10(6) pfu mL(-1), and the rate of the single and low copy sequences was over 47 %. This library will facilitate specific probe screening, molecular mapping, gene cloning, and DNA sequencing for this chromosome.