Genetic Recombination and Mapping in Petunia

For nearly a century Petunia has served as a model species for genetic and cytological studies. The list of mapped loci has grown from one for each of the seven chromosomes to more than 150, to which can be added several hundred, mostly AFLP-based, molecular markers. Mapping efforts provided early evidence for a number of phenomena which now appear to apply to a great number of plant and animal species, including a tendency toward tightly clustered gene family members, suppression of recombination in wide crosses, frequent chromosomal rearrangements, and active transposable element systems.