Home Research groups Wide Hybridization Group

Wide Hybridization Group

Our group is studying various aspects of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization and polyploidization. We use molecular cytogenetics, flow cytometry, bioinformatics, genomics and molecular biology techiques to analyze genome composition, evolution and function of hybrid and polyploid genomes. Our objects are Festuca x Lolium hybrids (Festulolium) and hybrids of Arabidopsis (lyrata x thaliana), Allium (cepa x roylei) and wheat x rye.

Our current topics cover:

  •           genome (in)stability and genome dominance in wide hybrids
  •           horizontal (lateral) gene transfer (from panicoid grasses to Hordeum species)
  •           cytonuclear interactions in plant hybrids 
As we are interested in meiosis, we made illustrations of complete meiosis using Lolium x Festuca hybrids.

We are members of Eucarpia Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses Section - webpage
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News:

  • June 2025: Mehrdad obtained a grant from Jaroslav Tupý Endowment Fund for his work on cytonuclear interactions. Congratulations! 
  • June 2025: Maruska Chudecka defended her MSc. thesis with excellent evaluation (A) and passed the final exam. Congratulations new Ms. MSc. ! 
  • March 2025: Our new paper on genome dominance has been published in Plant Genome. 
  • January 2025: Yasmim Dutra Santos joined our group as new cytogeneticist. Welcome Yasmim! 
  • November 2024: Our project on the role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of Hordeum will be funded by Czech Science Foundation (GACR) in 2025-2027. Great collaboration with Vaclav Mahelka and Karol Krak from Institute of Botany ASCR and Pangenome consortium of Martin Mascher, IPK. Show must go on! 
  • August 2024: Betka has a baby! Welcome little Maruska!
  • August 2024: David has been elected as future President Designate of EUCARPIA 
  • May 2024: Paper of Beat Boller and David on natural hybrids of fescues and ryegrasses in Swiss Alps has been published in AgrarForschung Schweiz (in german)
  • February 2024: The first paper of Mehrdad in our group is released! The Plant Journal published our story on cytonuclear interactions in plant hybrids and polyploids. Congrats Mehrdad! Keep up the good work! 
  • February 2024: New paper of Vaclav Mahelka from cytogenetics' contribution from David has been published in newest issue of Preslia. Read an interesting story about fascinating heptaploid quadrihybrids of Elymus found in unique floristic locality Cartoryje in White Carpathians.
  • January 2024: Our project 'Czech–Norwegian synergistic activities on the genetics and breeding of fodder crops to mitigate impacts of climate change' will be funded by Norwegian Funds in 2024. Nice possibility to collaborate with Odd Arne Rognli and his colleagues! 
  • January 2024: Bětka Doležalová joined our group as a new cytogeneticist. Welcome!
  • December 2023: Joanna left our group and will join Annaliese Mason lab. Good luck in your future career and thanks for the great job you made here. 
  • November 2023: Our project on Non-Mendelian inheritance of parental chromosomes in plant hybrids will be funded by Czech Science Foundation (GACR) in 2024-2026.
  • October 2023: Our collaboration with Vaclav Mahelka and Karol Krak (Institute of Botany ASCR) on nucleolar dominance in Festuloliums resulted in the paper published in Frontiers in Plant Science
  • September 2023: David co-organized EUCARPIA Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses conference in Brno. 
  • September 2023: Jana Szecówka was awarded for the best poster at Plant Chromosome Biology conference. Congratulations! Mehrdad gave his first talk at the scientific conference there. Great job! 
  • September 2023: We made a group (bike) trip - everybody survived :-)
  • August 2023: Paper of Petr Fajkus on the telomeres and telomerases with our contribution was published in New Phytologist 
  • March, 2023: Paper of Beat and David on mysterious triploid hybrids has been published in Alpine Botany. 
  • March, 2023: Our paper on non-Mendelian inheritance in Festuca x Lolium hybrids has been published in New Phytologist. 
  • January, 2023: Marek Szecówka joined our group as bioinformatician. Welcome!

Vacancies:

MSc. and Bc. studies
If you think you are real hard-worker willing to do overtime work in lab with a lot of enthusiasm and responsibility, you are welcome to contact us on kopecky@ueb.cas.cz

Group members

Leader
Assoc. prof. David Kopecký
Postdoc
Jana Szecówka (Kneřová) Ph.D.
Postdoc
Marek Szecówka Ph.D.
PhD student
Mehrdad Shahbazi MSc.
Postdoc
Alžběta Doležalová, Ph.D.
Postdoc
Yasmim Dutra Santos Ph.D.

Projects

Driver or hitchhiker? The role of horizontal gene transfer in the climate . . .
Leader
David Kopecký
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is an important evolutionary mechanism in higher plants. Hordeum species of sect. Stenostachys (Pooideae) have acquired several protein-coding genes from Panicum (Panicoideae) via HGT. In general, these genes are related to plant responses to stress conditions, but their exact function in Hordeum species is unknown. Our preliminary results suggest a link between the presence of these genes in Hordeum and temperature . . .
Czech–Norwegian synergistic activities on the genetics and breeding of . . .
Leader
Assoc. prof. David Kopecký
The initiative will aim in broadening of the existing collaborations and establishing new ones between researchers from Czech Republic and Norway dealing with fodder crops. The researchers collaborated on one specific project (Development of DArT array for Festuca-Lolium complex) about a 15 years ago. Since then, researchers from both countries have met several times, usually during EUCARPIA Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses section conferences . . .
Cytonuclear interactions in plant auto- and allo-polyploids
Leader
David Kopecky
Key metabolic processes catalyzed by multi-subunit enzyme complexes which comprise nuclear- and organelle-encoded proteins are dependent on maintaining the stoichiometric ratios among the subunits. As polyploidization increases the number of nuclear genes without directly altering the dosage of the cytosolic genomes, cytonuclear interactions forming these chimeric protein complexes may be disrupted. In our project, we will analyze the mechanisms leading . . .
Ultimate screening of wild barley genomes for panicoid DNA: a further step . . .
Leader
David Kopecky
The pangenome is a set of all genes present in a given taxon. Besides core genes, a variable part of genes may be acquired from other taxa via horizontal gene transfer (HGT), potentially providing the recipient with an evolutionary benefit. The extent of acquisitions of foreign DNA, their stability and transmission to future generations, and the evolutionary consequences of HGT are almost unknown in plants. Hordeum (Pooideae) is a suitable model to . . .
Genomic dominance as a force shaping evolution of plant wide hybrids
Leader
David Kopecký
Interspecific hybridization is one of key processes underlying plant speciation. Parental genomes usually do not intermingle in hybrid nuclei but in some hybrids pairing of homoeologous chromosomes does take place during meiosis. This opens a possibility for the reshuffling of their genomes. Such homoeologous pairing is frequent in Lolium × Festuca hybrids, creating truly hybrid genomes. However, in subsequent generations chromatin of Festuca . . .
When 1+1≠2: Conundrum of non-Mendelian inheritance of parental chromosomes . . .
Leader
Assoc. prof. David Kopecký
In interspecific hybrids, non-Mendelian inheritance of parental chromosomes may occur. The chromosomes of one parent are transmitted to the successive generation(s) of hybrids less successfully than the chromosomes of the other parent. In this project we will study the mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon. Our preliminary results in Festuca x Lolium hybrids suggest that preferential chromosome elimination is associated with allele-specific silencing . . .

Publications