Abstract
Polyploidy is widely recognized as a major evolutionary force in plants and has been reported in the genus Lippia (Verbenaceae). Lippia alba, the most studied species, has been documented as a polyploid complex involving at least four ploidal levels. L. alba presents remarkable chemical and genetic variation and represents a model for understanding genome organization. Although the economic and medicinal importance of the species has been widely described, no established polyploid induction protocol has been reported so far. Here, we describe the production of synthetic polyploid plants of L. alba using colchicine. The ploidal levels were estimated by flow cytometry and chromosome counting. In addition, FISH and molecular markers approaches were used to confirm the stability of the synthetic polyploids. The major component of the essential oils was estimated by GCMS to compare with the natural individuals. Tetraploids and triploids were produced providing new opportunities for investigating medicinal, pharmacological, and economic applications as well as addressing intrinsic questions involved in the polyploidization process in tropical plants.
Highlights
Polyploidy is widely recognized as a major evolutionary force in plants (Stebbins, 1971; Grant, 1981; Otto and Whitton, 2000; Soltis and Soltis, 2009, 2012; Aversano et al, 2012; Wendel, 2015; Wendel et al, 2016)
The accession belongs to the L. alba collection of the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil
A colchicine-free MS medium was used as control
Summary
Polyploidy (whole-genome multipication) is widely recognized as a major evolutionary force in plants (Stebbins, 1971; Grant, 1981; Otto and Whitton, 2000; Soltis and Soltis, 2009, 2012; Aversano et al, 2012; Wendel, 2015; Wendel et al, 2016). Changes in ploidal level may result in broad phenotypic modifications (e.g., Ramsey and Schemske, 2002; Soltis et al, 2003; Adams and Wendel, 2005). These changes may provide polyploids with short-term adaptive potential (Van de Peer et al, 2017) and the opportunity to exploit new niches (e.g., Marchant et al, 2016). Synthetic polyploids have been largely employed to increase agronomic traits mainly due to its higher physiological and morphological fitness compared to their natural diploids (Chung et al, 2017; Cui et al, 2017; Salma et al, 2017; Wei et al, 2018).
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