Differences in Winter Browning among Japanese-cedar Cultivars Are Not Due to Variation in Ploidy Levels

Abstract

There is a great deal of variation among japanese-cedar cultivars with regard to growth form, foliar characteristics, and winter browning. Differences in winter browning have been observed and documented by a number of authors. Previous research has established that there are differences in winter foliage color between cultivars included in the current study; however, no quantitative analysis under standardized conditions was conducted. Because of a previous report that tetraploid forms of japanese-cedar remain green during winter as a result of increased antioxidant enzyme activity, we hypothesized that cultivars that exhibit reduced winter browning were polyploids. We screened 56 accessions of japanese-cedar using flow cytometry analysis of 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)-stained nuclei and performed chromosome counts on three cultivars. All accessions were diploid (2n = 2x = 22), although there were significant differences in genome sizes among the cultivars. Holoploid genome sizes ranged from 18.9 pg for var. sinensis JCRA to 22.3 pg for ‘Viridis’ with a mean of 20.1 pg. Chromosome counts for cultivars Ogon, Oye Keme, and Viridis supported the flow cytometry results. Although the underlying cause of the variability in morphology and winter browning among cultivars is unclear, our results show that differences in ploidy level are not responsible, because all tested genotypes were diploid. Chemical name: 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI).