Cytologia 42: 227-232, 1977

Some New Records of Chromosome Numbers in Indian

M. N. Noor and Miss Subhra Mukherjee

Department of Botany, Ranchi University, Ranchi, India

Received September 22, 1975

Charophytes are a fascinating group of green which exhibit an integrity of their functional genomes and have attracted a number of algal cytologists in recent years notably from France, U. S. A., India, West Germany and Japan. While making cytological and cytogenetic studies of Indian Charophytes, the authors have come across chromosome numbers in five taxa of which the chromo some numbers in three taxa are new to science while they are also new to the remai ning two taxa.

Materials and methods

All the five algal materials have been collected from paddy fields, ditches and ponds of Darbhanga district of Bihar (India) during September-December, 1972. A few of each material have been preserved in 2% formalin for taxonomic identifications. The works of Pal 1932, Imahori 1954, Pal et al. 1962 and Wood and Imahori 1965 have been consulted for the correct identification of various taxa. Acetocarmine squash technique, as devised by Godward (1948) for Algae, has been employed throughout the course of investigation.

Cytological observations

Cytological figures have been analysed in the dividing nuclei of the young spermatogenous filaments of different taxa belonging to the genera Chara and , which are presented below in Table 1.

Table 1. Chromosome numbers obtained in five taxa of Chara and Nitella in the present analysis

* Chromosome numbers new to science. 228 M. N. Noor and Subhra Mukherjee Cytologia 42

Result and discussion

As far as the authors are aware (Cf. Corillion and Guerlesquin 1959, Gillet 1959, Godward 1966, Griffin and Proctor 1964, Guerlesquin 1961, 1963, 1964, 1967, Hotchkiss 1958, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, Imahori and Kato 1961, Karling 1926, 1928, Khan and Sarma 1967a, 1967b, Mukherjee and Noor 1973, Noor

Figs. 1-2. 1-1c. Chara braunii f. kurzii (Zaneveld) R. D. W. 1 and la, a metaphase plate and its drawing respectively showing 7 chromosomes. lb and lc, a metaphase plate and its drawing respectively showing 14 chromosomes. All •~3600. 2 and 2a. C. vulgaris var. vulgaris f. atrovirens (Lowe) H. and J. Gr. R. D. W., a metaphase plate and its drawing respectively showing

35 chromosomes. All •~3600.

1965, 1967, 1968, 1969-70, Noor and Mukherjee 1974, Oehlkers 1916, Sarma 1965, 1967, 1958, Sarma and Khan 1964, 1965, 1966, Sarma and Ramjee 1967, Sawa 1965, 1974, Sinha and Noor 1967, 1971, Tindall and Sawa 1964, Tuttle 1926, and Wood and Imahori 1965), n=35 (Figs. 2 and 2a) and n=49 (Figs. 3 and 3a) in Chara while n=21 (Figs. 4 and 4a) in Nitella have not been reported so far. Thus, in our opinions, n=35 and n=49 in the genus Chara, while n=21 in the genus Nitella are new to science. n=7 (Figs. 1, and la), ascertained in the present investigation is a new chromo somal count for Chara braunii complex. However, this number n=7 has also been recorded in a limited number of spermatogenous filaments of C. vulgaris subsp. eu-vulgaris (Guerlesquin 1967) from France. The discovery of n=7 in a living 1977 Some New Records of Chromosome Numbers in Indian Charophyta 229 species of Chara is definitely a breakthrough to the long-sought objective to find out the basic chromosome number for the genus. n=36 (Figs. 5 and 5a), obtained in Nitella gracilis complex, appears to be a new chromosome number for the taxon under investigation. However, this number

Figs. 3-5. 3 and 3a, C. zeylanica var. zeylanica f. zeylanica R. D. W., a metaphase plate and its

drawning respectively showing 49 chromosomes. All •~3600. 4 and 4a, Nitella pseudoflabellata

subsp. pseudoflabellata var. mucosa f. stabilis (Imaho.) R. D. W., a metaphase plate and its draw

ing respectively showing 21 chromosomes. 5 and 5a, N. gracilis subsp. gracilis var. confervacea

f. confermis (Nordst.) R. D. W., a metaphase plate and its drawing respectively showing 36 chromosomes. All •~3600. 230 M. N. Noor and Subhra Mukherjee Cytologia 42 n=36 has also been previously recorded by Sarma and Ramiee (1967) in three taxa of Nitella tenuissima complex investigated by them. The present finding lends support to the hypothesis that n=7 appears to be ancestral basic chromosome number for the genus Chara. This is owing to the fact that different chromosome numbers (including the present ones) viz. 7, 14, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56 and 70 are in multiples of 7. Chromosome numbers including the present ones determined in Nitella viz. 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 36 and 48 are in multiples of 3 and hence n=3 undoubtedly seems to be the hypothetical ancestral basic chromosome number for the genus Nitella. However, this n=3 has not been recorded so far in any living member of this genus.

Summary

1. Karyological investigation has been made in five taxa of Charophytes, collected from paddy fields, ditches and ponds of Darbhanga (India) 2. n=35 and n=49 in the genus Chara while n=21 in the genus Nitella are new to science 3. n=7 and n=36 are also new chromosome counts for the taxa under investi gation 4. n=7 and n=3 appear to be the ancestral basic chromosome numbers for Chara and Nitella respectively. 5. Acetocarmine technique, as devised by Godward (1948), has been em ployed throughout the course of investigations

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Professor J. P. Sinha, Pro fessor and Head of the Department of Botany, Ranchi University for laboratory facilities, to Prof. A. T. Hotchkiss, University of Louisville, Kentucky, U. S. A. for helpful suggestion and to Professor B. C. Kundu, Calcutta for encouragements. Thanks are also due to the authorities of U. G. C., New Delhi for the award of a U. G. C. Junior Research Fellowship to one of us (S. M.) during the tenure of which the work has been completed. Lastly, we are thankful to Mr. Ziaul Hasnain, B. Sc. and Mr. Irfan Ghani, B. Sc. for the help received in the collection of algal materials.

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