Polyploidy evolution in Spartina pectinata L.: neopolyploid formation and cytogeographic distribution

The next generation of bioenergy crops will probably be grown on marginal lands. Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata Link) is well suited to marginal land that is not well-suited for conventional crop production. Prairie cordgrass is a tall (1-3 m), rhizomatous, C4 perennial grass, native to North America and tolerant of environmental stresses such as salinity and water fluctuations. Developing prairie cordgrass as an energy crop requires genomic information such as genomic size and ploidy level. This species is well known as a polyploid species comprising three ploidy levels of tetraploid (2n = 40), hexaploids (2n = 60), and octaploids (2n = 80) with base chromosome number of x = 10. By using flow cytometry, cytogeographic distribution of prairie cordgrass has been investigated throughout U.S. Across sampling areas, the tetraploid populations extend from the East North Central to the New England regions in U.S., while the octaploid cytotypes were mostly distributed in the west North Central regions; overlapped regions of tetraploids and octaploids were found in both the west North Central (IA and KS) and west South Central (KS) regions. The hexaploid cytotype was found in one mixed population (4x + 6x) occurring in Illinois. Polyploids often possess novel traits, such as changes in flowering time, cell size, and biomass. An increase in polyploidy resulted in a greater variability of morphological expression in mixed population (4x + 6x) occurring in Illinois. Substantial differences in the flowering time, stomatal size, and aboveground biomass were observed between tetraploids and hexaploids. The presence of ploidy mixtures in natural populations of prairie cordgrass offers unique opportunities for studying the formation and establishment of polyploidy under natural conditions considered as an ultimate step in plant evolution.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Crop Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2012

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Su Min

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lee, DoKyoung

• Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata Link)
• polyploid
• flow cytometry
• cytogeographic distribution

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2012 Su Min Kim

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31911

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F31911