The Evolution of Chili Peppers (Capsicum - Solanaceae): a Cytogenetic Perspective Eduardo A
The Evolution of Chili Peppers (Capsicum - Solanaceae): a Cytogenetic Perspective Eduardo A. Moscone, Marisel A. Scaldaferro, Mauro Grabiele, Nicolãs M. Cecchini; Ysbelia Sanchez Garcia, 3 Robert Jarret,4 Julio R. Daviña, Daniel A. Ducasse,6 Gloria E. Barboza and Friedrich Ehrendorfer7 Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal (IMBIV), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba-CONICET, Casilla de Correo 495, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina 2 Centro de Investigaciones en QuImica Biológica de Córdoba (CIQUIBIQ), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina Laboratorio de Citogenética y Biosistemática Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia Experimental (IBE), Universidad Central de Venezuela, AP 47058, Caracas, Venezuela USDA/ARS, Plant Genetic Resources, 1109 Experimental Street, Griffin, GA 30223, USA Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Quimicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Rivadavia 2370, 3300 Posadas, Argentina 6 Instituto de Fitopatologia y Fisiologia Vegetal (IFFIVE), INTA, Camino a 60 Cuadras Km 5¼, 5119 Córdoba, Argentina Institute of Botany, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, A-1030 Vienna, Austria This contribution is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Armando T. Hunziker who encouraged us in the continuation of his studies on peppers. Keywords: chromosome numbers, karyotypes, active nucleolus organizing regions, fluorescent chromosome banding, nuclear DNA amounts, FISH, telomeric sequence Abstract Capsicum (chili peppers) is a New World genus with five crop species of great economic importance for food and spices. An up-to-date summary of the karyotypic knowledge is presented, including data on classical staining (chromosome number, size and morphology), silver impregnation (number and position of active nucleolar organizing regions), fluorescent chromosome banding (amount, distribution and type of constitutive heterochromatin), nuclear DNA content measurements (genome size), and fluorescent in situ hybridization (physical mapping of telomeric sequences).