The chromosome number, karyotype and genome size of the desert plant diploid Reaumuria soongorica (Pall.) Maxim.

摘要

Extreme drought and salt resistant plant Reaumuria soongorica is of great potential for revealing genetic bases unique to naturally stress-tolerant plants. A preliminary genome survey, including chromosome number, karyotype, chromosomal localization of 45S rDNA loci and genome size was conducted with R. soongorica collected from Lanzhou, China. Chromosome counting showed that R. soongorica is diploid with chromosome number of 22. Karyotypical analysis illustrated that the chromosomes size ranges from 3.38 to 5.51[NON-BREAKING SPACE]mum, and the chromosomal formula is 2n[NON-BREAKING SPACE]=[NON-BREAKING SPACE]2x[NON-BREAKING SPACE]=[NON-BREAKING SPACE]22[NON-BREAKING SPACE]=[NON-BREAKING SPACE]4[NON-BREAKING SPACE]m[NON-BREAKING SPACE]+[NON-BREAKING SPACE]14sm[NON-BREAKING SPACE]+[NON-BREAKING SPACE]4st. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that four pairs of 45SrDNA signals were detected at the end of R. soongorica chromosomes. The flow cytometry analysis indicated that the mean C value of R. soongorica is 0.806[NON-BREAKING SPACE]pg with predicted genome size of about 778[NON-BREAKING SPACE]Mb. The results indicate that the extreme drought and salt resistance of R. soongorica was not attributed to a big and complicate genome and also offer some clues in resolving the problems of taxonomy and evolution in Tamaricaceae.