© 2020 The Japan Mendel Society Cytologia 85(1): 41–43 New Chromosome Counts in Hesperis L. from Turkey Emrah Şirin* Department of Biology, Science Faculty, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey Received July 30, 2019; accepted October 21, 2019 Summary Chromosome numbers of four endemic Hesperis species (H. armena Boiss., H. kotschyi Boiss., H. pisidica Hub.-Mor. and H. thyrsoidea Boiss.) in Turkey have been reported for the first time. All species have 2n=14 chromosomes, except H. pisidica Hub.-Mor. (2n=12). This species is also different from the others be- cause of having satellite. Determining of the basic chromosome numbers x=6 and 7 are consistent with previous reports on Hesperis taxa in Turkey. Key words Brassicaceae, Chromosome number, Endemic species, Hesperis, Karyology, Satellite. Brassicaceae is a large family of major economic were investigated. Vouchers are stored in Selçuk Uni- importance, containing a wide array of crop plants versity Science Faculty Herbarium (KNYA), (Table 1). grown as salads, vegetables, for the oilseed, animal Primary roots of seedlings were pretreated with 2 mM feed and condiments, and several well-known garden 8-hydroxyquinoline for 8 h at 4°C and then fixed with ornamental plants such as the wallflower, honesty and Carnoy for 24 h at 4°C. The material was hydrolyzed aubretia (Heywood 1993, Martin et al. 2009). Members with 5 M HCl for 10 min at room temperature and then of the family are found in most parts of the world but are stained and squashed in 1% aceto-orcein. The prepara- mainly concentrated in the north temperate region and tions were made permanent according to the method of more especially in the countries surrounding the Medi- Bowen (1956). At least 10 metaphases for each species terranean basin and in southwestern and Central Asia, were photographed using an Olympus DP-72 digital where more genera occur than anywhere else in the camera attached to an Olympus BX53 microscope. world (Heywood 1993, Martin et al. 2009). In Turkey, it is represented by 85 genera and 458 species (Al-Shehbaz Results and discussion 2012). The Hesperis species are distributed in the warm climate zone of Eurasia and in the mountainous regions The chromosome set of H. armena comprise of 14 of southern and central Europe, southwest Asia, Cau- chromosomes (Fig. 1A). The chromosome number was casus, Russia, western China, and Mongolia. There are reported for the first time. In H. kotschyi the chromo- about 55 species in the world (Duran et al. 2002, 2003, some number was determined to be 2n=14 (Fig. 1B). Duran and Ocak 2005). In Turkey, the Hesperis is rep- Our report is the first chromosome study for this endem- resented by 27 species belonging to seven sections, of ic species. In H. pisidica the chromosome number was which 19 species are endemic to Turkey (Aras et al. determined to be 2n=12 (Fig. 1C). This species is dif- 2003). ferent from the others because of having a satellite. In H. The aims of the present study are to reveal the karyo- thyrsoidea the chromosome number was determined to logical features of Hesperis species and investigate the be 2n=14 (Fig. 1D). Our report is the first chromosome degree of chromosomal variation of the studied at the study for this endemic species. interspecies level. Karyological parameters as the characteristic deter- mining the phylogenetic relationship among species is Materials and methods an effective and valid method (Venora et al. 2002). The Four Turkish Hesperis species, e.g. H. armena Boiss., Table 1. Localities of the studied Hesperis species. H. kotschyi Boiss., H. pisidica Hub.-Mor. and H. thyrsoi- dea Boiss. were examined their chromosomes. The ex- Species Locality, altitude and collection date Voucher amined Hesperis samples were collected at least 10 indi- H. armena Muğla, Yılanlı Mountain, EŞ-753-HG viduals of each species from various localities in Turkey 1650 m, 09.07.2018 (KNYA) (Table 1). Mature seeds were selected and periodically H. kotschyi Kırşehir: Kervansaray Mountain, EŞ-751-HG 1650 m, 08.07.2018 (KNYA) germinated for chromosome analysis. Five seedlings H. pisidica Antalya: Elmalı, EŞ-754-HG 2100 m, 09.07.2018 (KNYA) H. thrysoidea Sivas: Zara–Divriği road, EŞ-755-HG * Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] 1600 m, 10.07.2018 (KNYA) DOI: 10.1508/cytologia.85.41 42 E. Şirin Cytologia 85(1) Fig. 1. The mitotic metaphase chromosomes of Hesperis taxa. (A) H. armena, (B) H. kotschyi, (C) H. pisidica, and (D) H. thyr- soidea. Arrows indicate sattelites. Scale bar=5 µm. Table 2. Some karyological features of Hesperis taxa. Taxa Chromosome number Karyotype formulae TCL (µm) References H. anatolica 2n=14 ̶ ̶ Duran et al. 2008 H. armena 2n=14 ̶ ̶ Present study H. aspera 2n=14 ̶ ̶ Duran et al. 2008 H. balansae 2n=12 8m+4sm 36.75 Ünal et al. 2008 H. bicuspidata 2n=14 6m+4sm+4ac 21.59 Duran et al. 2011 H. bottae 2n=12 8m+4ac 23.13 Duran et al. 2003 H. kotschyi 2n=14 ̶ ̶ Present study H. matronalis ssp. adzharica 2n=14 6m+2sm+2ac+4t 31.91 Duran et al. 2003 H. matronalis ssp. matronalis 2n=14 6m+4ac+4t 24.81 Duran et al. 2003 H. novakii 2n=14 6m+2sm+2ac+4t 23.02 Duran et al. 2003 H. özcelikii 2n=12 ̶ ̶ Duran et al. 2008 H. pendula ssp. dirmilensis 2n=12 ̶ ̶ Duran et al. 2008 H. pendula ssp. duralii 2n=12 8m+4ac 27.55 Duran et al. 2003 H. pisidica 2n=12 ̶ ̶ Present study H. schischkinii 2n=14 ̶ ̶ Duran et al. 2008 H. stellata 2n=28 6m+2ac+6t 18.42 Duran et al. 2011 H. syriaca var. quadrangula 2n=14 6m+2sm+2ac+4t 32.30 Duran et al. 2003 H. syriaca var. syriaca 2n=14 6m+2sm+2ac+4t 20.71 Duran et al. 2003 H. thrysoidea 2n=14 ̶ ̶ Present study H. varolii 2n=12 8m+4sm 20.57 Duran et al. 2003 TCL-the total chromosome length of the haploid complement; m-metacentric; sm-submetacentric; ac-acrosentric; t-telocentric number and size of chromosomes within the Brassicace- kaja and Strelkova 1948, Löve and Löve 1956, Löve ae are quite different for taxa in various genera, and this 1961, Dvořák 1964, 1966, 1973, 1982, Dvořák and Da- is important in terms of evolution and systematic evalua- dakova 1974, 1976, Tan and Iatrou 2001, Duran et al. tion in this family (Karaismailoğlu 2018). 2003, 2008, Duran and Ocak 2005, Warwick and Al- In the Brassicaceae, the chromosome numbers of 1559 Shehbaz 2006, Ünal et al. 2008, Table 2). In this study of the 3709 species (42%) and 232 of the 338 genera chromosome number 2n=12 for H. pisidica and 2n=14 (68%) are known (Warwick and Al-Shehbaz 2006). The for H. armena, H. kotschyi and H. thyrsoidea are added. basic numbers vary from 4 to 13, but surprisingly, x=8 The number, size, and distribution of the satellites is observed with a high percentage (37%; Warwick and are used to characterize the differentiation of genera or Al-Shehbaz 2006). related species (Ünal et al. 2008, Duran et al. 2011). H. Cytological examinations performed on the taxa of pisidica is different from the others because of having a Hesperis showed that the chromosome numbers are satellite. H. bicuspidata and H. syriaca, which reside in 2n=12, 14, 16, 24, 26, and 28 (Manton 1932, Sokolovs- the genus, also have satellites (Ünal et al. 2008, Duran 2020 New Chromosome Counts in Hesperis 43 et al. 2011). Dvořák, F. 1964. Taxonomic results of the studies on the chromosome All studied species have 2n=14 chromosomes and are numbers in the genus Hesperis L. Preslia 36: 178–184. Dvořák, F. 1966. Hesperis pycnotricha Borb. et Deg. Further diploid diploid, except H. pisidica (2n=12). This species is also species of the Hesperis section. Preslia 38: 245–248. different from the others because of having a satellite. Dvořák, F. 1973. Experimental taxonomic study of the species Hes- Karyological characteristics in our study might contrib- peris velenovskyi. Phyton 15: 151–154. ute to the differentiation of Turkish Hesperis taxa. Dvořák, F. 1982. Some results of the study of Hesperis matronalis L. from the Belanské Tatry mts. Biologia 37: 441–447. Dvořák, F. and Dadakova, B. 1974. Study of the numbers of chromo- Acknowledgements somes of angiosperms 1. Scripta Fac. Sci. Nat. Ujep Brunensis. Biol. 3: 121–130. I thank to the Scientific Investigation Project Co- Dvořák, F. and Dadakova, B. 1976. The chromosome morphology of ordinator of Selçuk University (Project No: 18401090) Hesperis matronalis subsp. matronalis and related diploid taxa. for their financial support. I also thank Prof. Dr. Kuddisi Folia Geobot. Phytotaxon. 11: 313–326. Heywood, V. H. 1993. Flowering Plants of the World. Oxford Univer- Ertuğrul and Prof. Dr. Tuna Uysal who let me work in sity Press, New York. his laboratory. Karaismailoğlu, M. C. 2018. Comparison of the karyotype analyses of two Aethionema speciosum subspecies from Turkey. Caryologia References 71: 128–132. Löve, Á. 1961. Chromosome numbers of central and northwest Euro- Al-Shehbaz, I. A. 2012. A generic and tribal synopsis of the Brassica- pean plant species. Opera Bot. 5: 1–581. ceae (Cruciferae). Taxon 61: 931–954. Löve, Á. and Löve, D. 1956. Cytotaxonomical conspectus of the Ice- Aras, S., Duran, A. and Yenilmez, G. 2003. Isolation of DNA for landic flora. Acta Hortic. 20: 65–291. RAPD analysis from leaf material of some Hesperis L. speci- Manton, I. 1932. Introduction to the general cytology of Cruciferae.