Genome size analysis of the genus Fagopyrum

Mio Nagano¹, Jotaro Aii¹, Clayton Campbell², Shinji Kawasaki³ and Taiji Adachi⁴.

¹ Applied Genetics and Biotechnology Division, Faculty of Agriculture, Miyazaki University, Gakuen Kibanadai Nishi 1-1, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan. ² Kade Research Ltd. 135-13 Street, Morden, Manitoba, R6M 1E9, Canada. ³ National Institute of Agrobiological Resources, Kannon-dai 2-1-2, Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, 305-8602, Japan. ⁴ Laboratory of Plant Genes and Physiology, Graduate School of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, Osaka Prefectural University, Gakuen-Cho, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8531, Japan.

Mio Nagano, Jotaro Aii, Clayton Campbell, Shinji Kawasaki and Taiji Adachi. 2000. Genome size analysis of the genus Fagopyrum. Fagopyrum 17: 35-39.

Abstract: Genome size of the various species of the genus Fagopyrum was determined by flow cytometry using propidium iodide (PI) as flourochrome. The C-values (the DNA content of the unreplicated haploid chromosome complement) distributed rather widely in Fagopyrum compared with other genera, from 0.55 of F. tataricum to 1.92 of F. urophyllum. The C-value of the representative F. esculentum was 1.39, about 3 times that of rice, stands about the middle class among higher plants, and this makes construction of the genome library of a Fagopyrum species prospective. Although the closely related species showed similar C-values, the C-values of the members of the two major subgenus groups, cymosum group and urophyllum group, overlapped almost the full range of the genus.

Key words: C-value, DNA amount, Fagopyrum, flow cytometry, genome size