New reports of nuclear DNA content for 66 traditional Chinese medicinal plant taxa in China

Abstract

The amount of DNA in the unreplicated haploid nuclear genome (C-value) provides important information for genome biodiversity. Genome size is used in a strikingly wide variety of plant biological fields with both practical and biological significance. To extend previously published datasets on plant nuclear content and to compile information on the DNA content of traditional Chinese medicinal plants in China, flow cytometry (FCM) was used to estimate C-values of medicinal plants in Shaanxi province, China. A total of 80 medicinal plant species and vouchers were collected from locations across Shaanxi province in China. Nuclei were extracted from fresh leaves in one of two buffers, stained with fluorochrome propidium iodide (PI), and analyzed on a Guava flow cytometer to measure the position of the fluorescence peaks relative to those of an internal calibration standard. Replicate extractions, low coefficients of variation and comparisons with published C-values in the same and related species were used to...