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Revisiting the DNA C-values of the genome size-standards used in plant flow cytometry to choose the “best primary standards”

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Abstract

Flow cytometry (FCM) techniques have enabled characterization of the genome size for various plant species. In order to measure the nuclear genome size of a species, reference standards with well-established DNA content are necessary. However, different 2C-values have been described for the same species used as reference standard. This fact has brought about inaccurate genome measurements, making relevant the establishment of optimal DNA reference standards for plant cytometric analyses. Our work revisited the genome size of Arabidopsis thaliana and other seven plant standards, which were denominated “Doležel’s standard set” and have been widely used in plant DNA measurements. These eight plant standards were reassessed for a comparative measurement of their DNA content values, using each plant species as primary standard in a cascade-like manner, from A. thaliana to Allium cepa. The genome size values obtained here were compared to those reported in the literature by statistical analyses. As a result, Raphanus sativus and Drosophila melanogaster were considered the most inadequate primary standards, whereas A. thaliana, Solanum lycopersicum and Pisum sativum were found to be the most suitable.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Jaroslav Doležel for generously providing the plant standards used in this study. We also thank CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil) and FAPEMIG (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais) for providing financial support to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Microscopia, Departamento de Produção Vegetal, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Alegre, ES, CEP: 29500-000, Brazil

    Milene Miranda Praça-Fontes & Wellington Ronildo Clarindo

  2. Laboratório de Citogenética e Citometria, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, CEP: 36570-000, Brazil

    Carlos Roberto Carvalho

  3. Laboratório de Bioinformática, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, CEP: 36570-000, Brazil

    Cosme Damião Cruz

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  1. Milene Miranda Praça-Fontes
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  2. Carlos Roberto Carvalho
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  3. Wellington Ronildo Clarindo
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  4. Cosme Damião Cruz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos Roberto Carvalho.

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Communicated by J. Register.

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Praça-Fontes, M.M., Carvalho, C.R., Clarindo, W.R. et al. Revisiting the DNA C-values of the genome size-standards used in plant flow cytometry to choose the “best primary standards”. Plant Cell Rep 30, 1183–1191 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-011-1026-x

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