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Australian Journal of Botany Australian Journal of Botany Society
Southern hemisphere botanical ecosystems
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Basic chromosome number in Boronia (Rutaceae)—competing hypotheses examined

Fucheng Shan A B , Guijun Yan A and Julie A. Plummer A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Present address: Innovative Plant Products Group, Department of Agriculture and Food of Western Australia, 3 Baron Hay Court, Perth, WA 6151, Australia. Email: fshan@agric.wa.gov.au

Australian Journal of Botany 54(7) 681-689 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT05050
Submitted: 4 March 2005  Accepted: 18 May 2006   Published: 19 October 2006

Abstract

Rutaceae have attracted considerable attention because of the wide chromosome-number variation. Cytoevolution of the genus Boronia, with n = 7–36, has been controversial. The critical issue is whether the base chromosome number is x = 18 or x = 9 in this genus and in the family Rutaceae. Phylogenetic analysis based on random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers was used to evaluate the hypothesis. Twenty decamer arbitrary primers were used to produce RAPD markers in 25 accessions of 18 Boronia species and a total of 559 DNA fragments was generated. UPGMA distance analysis and Wagner parsimony analysis on the DNA data produced two phylogenetic trees with very similar topology. The two trees generally supported the present classification of Boronia species. The exception was B. tenuis, which may be better treated as a new section or genus. Chromosome numbers of all the genotypes used in the analysis were counted with n = 7, 8, 9, 11, 16–36. Evolutionary distances between species were determined on the basis of branch length of the Wagner cladogram. Regression analysis indicated that Boronia chromosome number has a significant negative relationship with evolutionary distance. Chromosome number in Boronia evolved from higher to lower. The basic chromosome number for Boronia is suggested to be 18.


Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Paul Wilson, taxonomist at the Western Australian Herbarium of the Department of Conservation and Land Management for the identification and confirmation of genotypes in this research, his helpful discussions and access to his unpublished treatment of Boronia for the Flora of Western Australia; Dr Helen Stace of the University of Western Australia for help in the collection of Boronia tenuis from wild stands; Sunglow Flowers Pty Ltd in Western Australia, Bernawarra Gardens in Tasmania and WildTech Nursery Pty Ltd in Victoria for kindly providing some species of Boronia. Fucheng Shan was supported by an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and a University Postgraduate Award from the University of Western Australia.


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