Abstracts, XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy) , 9-15

XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy), 9-15 September 2013
Genome size variation in Italian species of the genus Erysimum (Brassicaceae)
PECCENINI S. 1 , POLATSCHEK A. 2 , PUSTAHIJA F. 3 , BROWN S. C. 4 , SILJAK–YAKOVLEV S. 5
1 DISTAV, Dip. di Scienze della Terra, dell'Ambiente e della Vita, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genova, Italy.
2 Abteilung Botanik, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Wien, Austria.
3 Faculty of Forestry, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4 Compartimentation Cellulaire, Institut des Sciences du Végétal, CNRS UPR 2355, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
5 Université Paris Sud, Lab. d’Evolution et Systématique, UMR8079 CNRS-UPS-AgroParis-Tech, Orsay Cedex, France.
The genus Erysimum (Brassicaceae), comprising about 200 species, is widespread in the temperate
zone of the Northern Hemisphere (Europe, North Africa, Asia and North America). Systematic
research for Italian representatives of the genus pointed existence of 18 species, constituting about 9%
of global number. Previous studies found four different basic chromosome numbers (x = 6, 7, 8 and 9)
and ploidy levels up to 8x for x=7.
The 2C DNA content was assessed by flow cytometry and chromosome number was determined
using standard methods. Chromosome number and 2C-values were determined for 11 Erysimum
species taking several populations of each to verify the existence or not of inter- and intra-specific variations.
For 7 species, these constitute first reports of genome size (E. aurantiacum, E.cheiri, E.cheiranthoides,
E.bonannianum, E.crassistylum and E.virgatum).
The 2C DNA value ranges from 0.5 pg for Erysimum pseudorhaeticum to 2.01 pg for E. rhaeticum).
The group of species with the same basic chromosome number showed a strong correlation between
ploidy level and genome size. The possible relationships between 2C-values and other characters as
life growth form and life cycle type are also discussed.
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