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Could the grass SI system be activated in wheat to provide the basis for a hybrid
system? A difficulty is that neither S nor Z have been cloned from any of the grass
systems being studied, although both loci have been mapped at high resolution
in S. cereale (Hackauf and Wehling, 2005), Lolium perenne (Shinozuka et al., 2010),
and Phalaris corulescens (Bian et al., 2004). Indeed, despite considerable effort in
several different SI systems, no system has been fully explained at the molecular
level (Franklin-Tong, 2008). However, it may be possible to bring SI into wheat
via a diploid progenitor or close relative. Interestingly, polyploid grasses can show
the same level of SI as their diploid relatives and parents. The SI reactions can
occur even if only one S-Z pair of alleles in the diploid pollen of tetraploid grasses
is matched in recipient pistil. This process has been demonstrated in S.
cereale, Festuca pratense, and Dactylis glomerata (Lundqvist, 1957, 1962, 1969), and
in L. perenne (Fearon et al., 1984a,b). Therefore, it may be possible to generate a SI
wheat if the requisite genes can be identified in a close relative and introgressed
into the wheat genome.