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Nuclear genome size variation in fleshy-fruited Neotropical Myrtaceae

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Abstract

In Myrtaceae, reports regarding the nuclear DNA content are scarce. The aim of this study is to present genome size data for fleshy-fruited Myrteae, and to test their relation with chromosome number and ploidy, the available data for cytoevolutionary studies in Myrtaceae. Thirty species out of ten genera were investigated for chromosome number and genome size using flow cytometry. Twenty-eight species were diploid with 2n = 2x = 22 and two species were tetraploid with 2n = 4x = 44. All genome sizes measured are new. Among the diploid species, a gradual and small variation in 2C-values (0.486 pg in Gomidesia schaueriana to 0.636 pg in Eugenia multicostata) was observed, whereas the tetraploid genomes of Psidium acutangulum and P. cattleianum had about twice as much DNA (1.053 and 1.167 pg, respectively). The total interspecific variation of C-values was 2.45-fold. The fleshy-fruited Myrteae have smaller holoploid genomes than the capsular-fruited Eucalypteae and Melaleuceae.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Fernanda Gonçalves Pereira and Irene Lorand-Metze (Unicamp, Brazil) for the use of the flow cytometer; IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis), IF-SP (Instituto Florestal–São Paulo), and IEF-MG (Instituto Estadual de Florestas–Minas Gerais) for permission to material collecting, and Julie Dutilh for improvements to English. This work was part of Ph.D. Thesis of IRC at Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia (IB), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). IRC was supported by a scholarship from CNPq; MCD and ERFM are recipients of research fellowships from CNPq. This work was funded by Brazilian agencies Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) (01/13169-6, 04/13041-8) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (471065/2004-8) to ERFM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Institute of Biology (IB), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, s/n, Caixa Postal 6109, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Itayguara Ribeiro da Costa & Eliana Regina Forni-Martins

  2. Department of Plant Physiology, IB, UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Marcelo Carnier Dornelas

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  1. Itayguara Ribeiro da Costa
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  2. Marcelo Carnier Dornelas
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  3. Eliana Regina Forni-Martins
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Correspondence to Itayguara Ribeiro da Costa.

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da Costa, I.R., Dornelas, M.C. & Forni-Martins, E.R. Nuclear genome size variation in fleshy-fruited Neotropical Myrtaceae. Plant Syst Evol 276, 209–217 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-008-0088-x

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