Annals of Botany 114: 1597–1608, 2014 doi:10.1093/aob/mcu178, available online at www.aob.oxfordjournals.org Differential amplification of satellite PaB6 in chromosomally hypervariable Prospero autumnale complex (Hyacinthaceae) Khatere Emadzade1, Tae-Soo Jang1, Jirˇ´ı Macas2, Ales Kovarˇ´ık3, Petr Nova´k2, John Parker4 and Hanna Weiss-Schneeweiss1,* 1Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, A-1030 Vienna, Austria, 2Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Plant Molecular Biology, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, 3Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biophysics, Brno, Czech Republic and 4Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge CB2 1JF, UK * For correspondence. E-mail
[email protected] Received: 7 March 2014 Returned for revision: 7 April 2014 Accepted: 8 July 2014 Published electronically: 28 August 2014 † Background and Aims Chromosomal evolution, including numerical and structural changes, is a major force in plant diversification and speciation. This study addresses genomic changes associated with the extensive chromo- somal variation of the Mediterranean Prospero autumnale complex (Hyacinthaceae), which includes four diploid cytotypes each with a unique combination of chromosome number (x ¼ 5, 6, 7), rDNA loci and genome size. † Methods A new satellite repeat PaB6 has previously been identified, and monomers were reconstructed from next- generation sequencing (NGS) data of P. autumnale cytotype B6B6 (2n ¼ 12). Monomers of all other Prospero cyto- types and species were sequenced to check for lineage-specific mutations. Copy number, restriction patterns and methylation levels of PaB6 were analysed using Southern blotting. PaB6 was localized on chromosomes using fluor- escence in situ hybridization (FISH). † Key Results The monomer of PaB6 is 249 bp long, contains several intact and truncated vertebrate-type telomeric repeats and is highly methylated.