Giemsa staining and fluorescent chromosome banding in someVitisL. species

Abstract

Giemsa staining technique and fl uorescent chromosome banding with CMA 3 and DAPI were applied to the mitotic chromosomes of Vitis champinii, V. cinerea, V. girdiana, V. labrusca, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris and V. vinifera for the purpose of chromosome measurement and constitutive heterochromatin characterization at the cytochemical level, respectively. Both fl uorescent CMA and conventional Giemsa staining constituted a valuable tool for chromosome characterization. Karyomorphometric data obtained after Giemsa staining allowed for an average ideogram and karyotype formulae based on chromosome length for the species. V. champinii and V. girdiana distinguished from the other fi ve species by means of the total haploid chromosome length, by the longest chromosome length and by the average chromosome length. The seven grape species have moderate chromosome asymmetry values and were classifi ed on 2A Stebbins' category. Positive CMA bands were seen in all species. V. girdiana distinguished from the other species solely by the presence of two CMA + bands, while V. champinii, V. cinerea, V. labrusca, V. rotundifolia and V. rupestris had four bands. V. vinifera showed chromosome heteromorphism for CMA bands. No clearly visible DAPI + band was seen in the species. According to the present observations, it seems that the evolutionary process of speciation involving North American and European Euvitis species studied, resulted in some discrete changes in chromosome measurements and also in heterochromatin base composition of at least one species. These data enlarge the chromosomal information of the genus Vitis and make possible further comparative studies into the Vitaceae family.