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Flow cytometric analysis of DNA content in Hosta reveals ploidy chimeras

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Abstract

Nuclear DNA content in 84 Hosta cultivars was measuredby flow cytometry. As an internal standard we used the closely related Agave americana, the latter was calibrated against other reference species. Propidium iodide values were 20%higher than DAPI values, indicating a lower AT/GC ratio for Hosta. Ten new tetraploid plants were found in addition to the only tetraploid known so far; H. ventricosa.Small forms of the tetraploid H. ventricosa turned out tobe triploid hybrids. Three other triploids were discovered. Threesupposed tetraploids turned out to be diploid. In five plantsthe ploidy levels of the germ layers L1 and L3 appeared to be different. In these cases thick leaves coincides with a tetraploid DNA content. The DNA contents as measured in theseploidy chimeras coincide with differences in leaf colour, thusgiving an opportunity to analyze the build-up of Hosta plants.In general, analysis of the nuclear DNA content can be used as a simple means to increase the possibilities for creating new cultivars in this economically important perennial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Ben J.M. Zonneveld & Frank Van Iren

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  1. Ben J.M. Zonneveld
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  2. Frank Van Iren
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Zonneveld, B.J., Van Iren, F. Flow cytometric analysis of DNA content in Hosta reveals ploidy chimeras. Euphytica 111, 105–110 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003879408413

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