Genome Size and Seed Mass Analyses in Cicer arietinum (Chickpea) and Wild Cicer Species

Abstract

The genome size of cultivated Cicer arietinum and 12 wild Cicer sp. including seven annual and five perennial species were analyzed using flow cytometry. A significant 2C genome size variation was observed among the Cicer sp. The 2C genome size ranged from 1.00 pg in wild species, Cicer judaicum, to 1.76 pg in cultivated species, C. arietinum. The wild perennial species all had a genome size of ≈1.6 pg. Most if not all of this genome size variation occurred among wild annual species. A significant positive correlation between 2C genome size and seed mass was observed among 12 wild Cicer sp. at α = 0.05. However, artificial selection appears to decrease nucleotype effects in cultivated C. arietinum, which resulted in no correlation between seed mass and genome size at α = 0.05.