Theoretical and applied aspects of interspecific hybridization in sunflower

The development of N.I. Vavilov concepts on distant hybridization as a way for broadening cultivated plants diversity is demonstrated on the example of sunflower. The review of studies on the crossability of cultivated sunflower with wild Helianthus species, the inheritance of characters in hybrid generations, the peculiarities of the genome structural and functional reorganizations in interspecific hybrid progenies is given. The practical results of the crosses between H. annuus and perennial Helianthus species are analyzed; the diverse aspects for application of this approach in sunflower breeding and genetics are discussed. With the use of distant hybridization a new model for investigation of nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction genetic mechanisms is suggested.