Proceedings of the XLV Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy - 26/29 September, 2001

ISBN 88-900622-1-5

Poster Abstract

CYTOLOGY OF VICIA SPECIES. VICIA MICHAUXII SPRENGEL.: AUTOMATED KARYOTYPE ANALYSIS, CHROMATIN ORGANISATION, RDNA SEQUENCES AND CHROMOSOME BANDING

VENORA G.*, BLANGIFORTI N.*, CREMONINI R.**, RUFFINI CASTIGLIONE M.**, FREDIANI M.***, KOTSERUBA V.V.****, JAASKA V.*****

* Stazione Sperimentale per la Granicoltura, Caltagirone, Italy

** Dipartimento di Scienze Botaniche dell’Università di Pisa, Italy

*** Dipartimento di Agrobiologia ed Agrochimica dell’Università di Viterbo, Italy

**** Istituto di Botanica, RAS, San Pietroburgo, Russia

***** Istituto di Botanica e Zoologia, Università di Tartu, Estonia

In the temperate zone of both hemispheres there are about 160 Vicia species, most of them are diploid with a basic number x=5, 6 or 7. Evolution and speciation in this genus are accompained by both chromosome size variation and large scale variability in nuclear DNA content. Also a considerable variation in the frequency of repetitive DNA sequences characterise the species inside the genus. In previous paper biochemical, cytophotometric and karyological data of species belonging to Vicia sect. faba have been reported. Isoenzyme analysis in Vicia subgenus vicia has evidenced that V. michauxii is more linked to Vicia faba than its morphologically closest wild relatives of the Narbonensis complex. As far as the analysis of ITS and ETS sequences is concerned a great amount of literature demonstrates the valuation of these parameters as a useful source of characters in the study of phyletic relationships. Therefore automated karyotype analysis, nuclear DNA content, chromosome banding and sequences of rDNA spacers of V. michauxii are reported. The determination of the heterochromatin by Feulgen absorption at different thresholds of optical density provides further evidence of the chromatin organization. The comparison of our results with those of the species belonging to Vicia sect. faba constitutes a further step in the study of phylogenetic affinities in Vicia genus.