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Revision of ploidy status of Dioscorea alata L. (Dioscoreaceae) by cytogenetic and microsatellite segregation analysis

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Abstract

Dioscorea alata is a polyploid species with several ploidy levels and its basic chromosome number has been considered by most authors to be x = 10. Standard chromosome counting and flow cytometry analysis were used to determine the chromosome number of 110 D. alata accessions of the CIRAD germplasm collection. The results revealed that 76% of accessions have 2n = 40 chromosomes, 7% have 2n = 60 chromosomes and 17% have 2n = 80 chromosomes. Progenies were produced from 2n = 40 types of D. alata and the segregation patterns of six microsatellite markers in four different progenies were analysed. The Bayesian method was used to test for diploid versus tetraploid (allo- and autotetraploid) modes of inheritance. The results provided the genetic evidence to establish the diploidy of plants with 2n = 40 chromosomes and to support the hypothesis that plants with 2n = 40, 60 and 80 chromosomes are diploids, triploids and tetraploids, respectively, and that the basic chromosome number of D. alata is x = 20. The findings obtained in the present study are significant for effective breeding programs, genetic diversity analysis and elucidation of the phylogeny and the species origin of D. alata.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere gratitude to IFCPAR (Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research) for supporting this work. We thank Dr. J. David who provide us with the programme to calculate the Bayesian probabilities, and Dr A. D’Hont, D. Triaire and M. Goud who provided support for the chromosome counting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD-CA), Station de Roujol, 97170, Petit Bourg, Guadeloupe, France

    Gemma Arnau, A. Nemorin & E. Maledon

  2. Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram, 695017, India

    K. Abraham

Authors
  1. Gemma Arnau
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  2. A. Nemorin
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  3. E. Maledon
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  4. K. Abraham
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gemma Arnau.

Additional information

Communicated by J. Bradshaw.

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Arnau, G., Nemorin, A., Maledon, E. et al. Revision of ploidy status of Dioscorea alata L. (Dioscoreaceae) by cytogenetic and microsatellite segregation analysis. Theor Appl Genet 118, 1239–1249 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-009-0977-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-009-0977-6

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