Abstract.
We studied five natural populations of Dactylis glomerata L. (Poaceae) growing at different altitudes in the south-eastern fringe of the Alps in northern Slovenia to determine the subspecies. The stomatal length, the pollen diameter and chromosome counts were consistent with the tetraploid taxon D. glomerata subsp. glomerata (2n=4x =28). Genome size was measured in 55 individuals. The mean 2C value was 8.6 pg DNA. The mean 2C values of populations growing at different altitudes showed only 2.1% variation, and no correlation was observed between altitude and genome size. In D. nk;glomerata subsp. glomerata eight nucleoli were observed in late telophase, indicating that the nucleolus-organising regions inherited from both diploid parent species are functional. We demonstrate that both genome size and the number of nucleoli may be used to determine the ploidy level as an alternative to chromosome counting.
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Received May 31, 2001; accepted March 5, 2002 Published online: November 14, 2002
Addresses of the authors: Dr. Barbara Vilhar (e-mail: barbara.vilhar@uni-lj.si), Tatjana Vidic, Nejc Jogan, Prof. Marina Dermastia, University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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Vilhar, B., Vidic, T., Jogan, N. et al. Genome size and the nucleolar number as estimators of ploidy level in Dactylis glomeratain the Slovenian Alps. Plant Syst. Evol. 234, 1–13 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-002-0186-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-002-0186-0