Biologia, Bratislava, 61/1: 41—50, 2006 Section Botany DOI: 10.2478/s11756-006-0007-y
Distribution, chromosome numbers and nomenclature conspect of Arabidopsis halleri (Brassicaceae) in the Carpathians
Martin Kolník1,3 & Karol Marhold1,2
1Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 14,SK–84523, Bratislava, Slovakia; tel.: +421-2-5942 6128,fax:+421-2-5477 1948, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] 2Department of Botany, Charles University, Benátská 2,CZ–12801, Praha 2, Czech Republic 3Institute of Biodiversity Conservation and Biosafety, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Agricultural university, tr. A. Hlinku 2,SK–949 76 Nitra, Slovak Republic
Abstract: Arabidopsis halleri represents an important model species for the study of phytoremediation. In the Carpathians it is represented by three subspecies: A. halleri subsp. halleri, A. halleri subsp. tatrica and A. halleri subsp. dacica.Allthree subspecies are diploid with chromosome number 2n = 16. They differ mainly in indument of flower parts, colour of petals and in the position of the longest leaf on stem. A. halleri subsp. halleri occurs in the Eastern and Southern Carpathians and in the northern and eastern part of the Western Carpathians, subsp. tatrica is endemic of the Western Carpathians and subsp. dacica occurs in the Eastern and Southern Carpathians most probably extending in its distribution further to the south to the Balkan mountains. Full synonymy of these three taxa and also a fourth European subspecies, A. halleri subsp. ovirensis is presented including the information on type specimens. Lectotypes are selected for several names. List of the examined herbarium specimens is given as well. Key words: Arabidopsis, chromosome numbers, Cruciferae, distribution, taxonomy, typification
Introduction Arabidopsis halleri is reported from mountains of Central Europe extending to the SW Alps, N part of the Recent molecular studies showed that the traditional Balkan Peninsula and eastern Asia. Three subspecies taxonomical circumscription of genera Arabidopsis and are usually recognised within Arabidopsis halleri: A. Arabis is to a large extent artificial. Both genera were halleri subsp. halleri usually reported from Austria, the revealed to be polyphyletic, consisting of several in- Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, N and Central dependent lineages (Koch et al., 1999, 2003). Al- Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Ukraine; Shehbaz et al. (1999) listed 59 binomials, previously A. halleri subsp. ovirensis from Austria, Italy, Slove- assigned to Arabidopsis, which are currently classified nia, Ukraine, Serbia, Albania and Romania; A. halleri in 14 different genera. On the other hand, taxa for- subsp. gemmifera from Russian Far East, NE China, merly treated in the genus Cardaminopsis (including Korea, Japan and Taiwan (Jones & Akeroyd, 1993; Arabidopsis halleri) are now to be included in the Jalas & Suominen, 1994; Al-Shehbaz & O’Kane, genus Arabidopsis, as well as several taxa, which were 2002). Populations from the Slovak Republic and S originally described within Arabis. At present, follow- Poland, especially those from the Tatry Mts., have of- ing the treatment by O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz (1997), ten been reported as intermediate between subsp. hal- the genus Arabidopsis consists of nine species, some of leri and subsp. ovirensis (e.g. by Jones & Akeroyd, which are further divided into subspecies. All Arabidop- 1993; Jalas & Suominen, 1994). They were described sis species in the circumscription of these authors are as a separate variety (Arabis halleri var. tatrica)by indigenous to Europe, with the ranges of two species Paw lowski (1930) and subsequently transferred to the extending into northern and eastern Asia and North subspecies rank as Cardaminopsis halleri subsp. tatrica America (Al-Shehbaz & O’Kane, 2002). In our cur- by Měsíček (2002). Although not so widely used as rent project we concentrate on the taxonomic revision closely related Arabidopsis thaliana, A. halleri is an im- of this genus in the Carpathian mountain range com- portant model species for the study of phytoremedia- paring also the Carpathian populations with those from tion. It is tolerant to high soil concentrations of zinc, the Eastern Alps. Previous studies on this genus (e.g. cadmium and lead and hyperaccumulates zinc and cad- Koch et al., 1999) concentrated mostly on phylogenetic mium (Bert et al., 2000, 2002, 2003; Van Rossum aspects, but thorough study combining molecular, mor- et al., 2004 and references therein). Numerous studies phometric and karyological data is still missing. have been devoted to this species, but only seldom at-