Genome analysis of species of Calathea utilizing chromosomal and nuclear DNA parameters

The species of Calathea of Marantaceae under Scitaminaceae are economically important as ornamental foliage plants. These are native of South America and distributed throughout the tropics. The plants are tuberous or rhizomatous and propagate mostly by vegetative means. In the present study, an atte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nucleus (Calcutta) 2014-12, Vol.57 (3), p.203-208
Main Authors: Kumari, Anamika, Lahiri, Kotisree, Mukhopadhyay, Madhumita J, Mukhopadhyay, Sandip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Calathea
Cell Biology
chromosome number
chromosomes
cytogenetic analysis
histones
leaf area
Life Sciences
nuclear genome
Original Article
petioles
ploidy
potted foliage plants
tropics
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Summary:The species of Calathea of Marantaceae under Scitaminaceae are economically important as ornamental foliage plants. These are native of South America and distributed throughout the tropics. The plants are tuberous or rhizomatous and propagate mostly by vegetative means. In the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the genomic diversity of four different species of Calathea in relation to morphological and cytological characteristics as well as 4C nuclear DNA contents at the inter- and intra-specific levels. Differences were observed in morphological characters including petiole length, leaf area and ornamentation. These characters may serve as identifying parameters of individual species. Chromosome analysis has indicated the somatic chromosome number to range from 2n = 24 to 2n = 28 among these species. The species or varieties of Calathea having the same chromosome number differed in relation to chromosome types and number of chromosomes of individual type. The 4C nuclear DNA contents did not vary much and there was no direct correlation with the ploidy status of these species of Calathea. A variation was recorded among these species in total chromosome length. The chromosome length and volume also did not reveal any direct correlation with chromosome number, instead a consistency in difference of these two characters was noted. Differential coiling of the arm and the ratios of different protein components (histone and non-histone) in chromosome organization have been suggested to be responsible for such differences in chromosome length and volume respectively. It is suggested that cryptic structural alteration in chromosomes has played a role in speciation of this genus.
ISSN:0029-568X
0976-7975
DOI:10.1007/s13237-014-0121-0