Chromosome Numbers and Ploidy Levels of Chinese Curcuma Species

Abstract

Additional index words. hidden cone gingers, tumeric, ZingiberaceaeAbstract. Curcuma L. is an economically important genus in the family Zingiberaceae. Many species are grown as medicinal, culinary, and ornamental crops. As a result of their high morphological diversity and small chromosome sizes, chromosome numbers and species relationships of Chinese Curcumas remain debated. This study examined chromosome numbers of 15 populations representing 11 species of Curcuma from China. Results showed that only Curcuma flaviflora S. Q. Tong was diploid with 2n = 2x = 42 and C. kwangsiensis S. G. Lee & C. F. Liang was tetraploid with 2n = 4x = 84. The other species were triploid (2n = 3x = 63). The study indicated that the basic chromosome number of Curcuma from China could be x = 21. The diploid C. flaviflora produced viable seeds, which was the main means for propagation. The tetraploid and the triploids produced no seeds and relied on rhizomes for propagation. Chromosome sizes of all species were small, ranging from 0.5 to 2.1 mm, which prevented karyotype analysis. The fact that nine of 11 species studied were triploid indicates that triploidy may have some type of competitive advantage over the diploid and tetraploid. In addition, the triploids are popular commercially because of abundant rhizome production and this may contribute to their wide distributions.

Testing DNA barcodes in closely related species of Curcuma (Zingiberaceae) from Myanmar and China

“…The trnL‐F region showed a high PCR success rate (88.6% %) with only one pair primer and had the longest DNA sequence among the tested loci, which corresponded well with the results of studies carried out on other groups of plants (Chen et al . b; Wong et al . ).…”

Distribution, Cytology, Genetic Diversity and Molecular phylogeny of selected species of Zingiberaceae – A Review

“…The somatic chromosome number of Alpinia calcarata, A. malaccensis and A. nigra (A. allughas) was found to be 2n=48 (Tab. 1) with basic number X=12 Venkatasuban, 1940, 1943;Chakravorti 1948;Ramachandran 1969;Chen 1988;Joseph 1998 Chen and Huang (1996) revealed that most of these species had a chromosome count of 2n = 4X = 48 chromosomes. According to Joseph (1998) the karyotypes of A. calcarata, A. malaccensis and A. nigra are symmetrical in nature having different combinations of metacentric and submetacentric chromosomes.…”

“…According to Joseph (1998) the karyotypes of A. calcarata, A. malaccensis and A. nigra are symmetrical in nature having different combinations of metacentric and submetacentric chromosomes. A group of workers (Sharma and Bhattacharjee 1959;Bhattacharayya 1968;Chen et al 1982Chen et al , 1988 reported the presence of diploid (2n=2X=24) and tetraploid cytotypes (4X=48) in Amomum maximum (Tab. 1).…”

“…Curcuma longa known as "Golden Spice" is predominantly cultivated in the tropical and sub Raghavan and Venkatasuban, 1943;Chakravorti 1948;Ramachandran 1969 Alpinia. malaccensis 48 Chakravorti 1948;Chen 1988;Joseph 1998 Alpinia nigra 2n = 48 Raghavan and Venkatasuban, 1943;Chakravorti 1948 Ramachandran 1961Ramachandran , 1969Prana 1977;Prana et al 1978;Nambiar 1979;Nair 2000;Renjith et al 2001;Paisooksantivatana and Thepsen 2001;Islam 2004;Skornickova et al 2007;Nair and Sasikumar 2009;Joseph 1999;Lamo and Rao 2014;Bhadra and Bandyopadhyay 2015;Bhadra et al 2018 Hedychium coronarium 2n = 34 Sharma and Bhattacharyya 1959;Bhattacharyya 1968;Ramachandran 1969;Mukherjee 1970;Khoshoo 1979;Joseph 1998 Feddes Repertorium 2020, 131, 58-68 A review on selected species of Zingiberaceae tropical countries. India is the largest producer and exporter of turmeric in the world, followed by China, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand (Selvan and Thomas 2002;Ashraf et al 2012).…”

Cytogenetic verification of Curcuma candida (Zingiberaceae) from Thailand and Myanmar

“…The ginger family or Zingiberaceae comprises over 1,500 species of 53 genera worldwide. Geographically, Thailand is part of the Indochinese region that harbours the highest ginger genetic resources (Larsen & Larsen, 2006;Leong-Škorničková & Newman, 2015). A large number of Thai Zingiberaceous taxa are known as edible, ornamental or medicinal plants, from which commercial products beneficial to human can be developed.…”