DNA amounts of roses (Rosa L.) and their use in attributing ploidy levels.

The aims of the investigation were to characterise variability among the DNA amounts of roses and assess the predictability of ploidy levels from DNA amounts. Chromosome numbers in the genus Rosa range from 2n = 2x = 14 to 2n = 8 x = 56 and aneuploidy is rare. Published 2C DNA amounts range from 0.78 pg in R. xanthina Lindl. and R. sericea Lindl. (2n = 2x = 14) to 2.91 pg in R. canina L. (2n = 5x = 35). In this investigation, DNA amounts were estimated by flow cytometry of leaf nuclei stained with propidium iodide, using Petroselinum crispum (2C DNA amount = 4.46 pg) as the internal calibration standard. Ploidy levels based on DNA amounts (DNA ploidy) were assigned by comparing their DNA amounts with published DNA amounts and identifying peaks and intervening discontinuities in frequency distributions of DNA amounts. 2C DNA amounts ranged from 0.83 pg in R. ecae (2x = 2x = 14) to 3.99 pg in R. acicularis (2n = 8 x = 56). Differences in the 1Cx-values (2C DNA amount/ploidy values) were found among the taxonomic sections of Rosa. Ploidy levels could be confidently assigned to most species and cultivars, but the ploidy of some specimens in the section Caninae was uncertain for reasons attributed to genomic diversity and aneuploidy. Cytochimerism was detected in three cultivars of R. x alba. DNA ploidy was determined in 384 specimens representing 74 species and 5 horticultural classes.