Conservation of floral, fruit and chromosomal diversity: a review on diploid and polyploid Capsicum annuum complex in India

Exploring the genetic makeup and population structure among Capsicum accessions for crop improvement and breeding curriculum insights

“…Moreover, knowledge of variation in the genome size, genetic plasticity, level of adulteration, fruit quality, pungency, size, and color is very important parameters for breeding advancement programs in chillies. For deciphering variation in Capsicum species, morphological indicators have played a big role, among which flower and fruit characteristics are most important [47][48][49][50], in which biochemical, physiological, and molecular aspects are also extensively investigated [3,[51][52][53][54]. Though morphological and biochemical characters are credible scores for evaluating variation in Capsicum species but are also subject to change under different environmental conditions [55,56], therefore accessing genetic diversity using molecular markers is more advantageous because molecular markers are phenotypically neutral and not regulated by environmental conditions.…”

An overview on studies of species complexes in Solanaceae

“…Capsicum is an economically important genus because it comprises five species of pepper, each with different cultivars (Barboza et al 2022). It is native to the Nearctic and Neotropical realms, but currently, India occupies a significant position in the production and consumption of chili peppers (Jha & Bhowmick 2021). All studies on Capsicum included domesticated taxa, ten out of twelve articles used ex situ material, and the main investigation with the genus is the evaluation of genetic variability between wild and domesticated forms (Albrecht et al 2012;Thul et al 2012).…”

“…Understanding their evolution is crucial to better delimit the taxonomic boundaries within these groups, since species are fundamental units on which most research in life science is based (Sites & Marshall 2003). For applied research, correct species boundaries result in reliable biodiversity estimates as well as inform conservation strategies and natural area management approaches (Vogel Ely et al 2017;Jha & Bhowmick 2021). Furthermore, the misidentification of species complexes related to economic, nutritious, or medical importance can result in negative consequences (Esterhuizen et al 2013;Hendrichs et al 2015).…”

Unfolding chromosomal uniqueness of the Scilloid ornamental Albuca virens by application of EMA based Giemsa- DAPI staining

“…Mitotic frequency and chromosome morphology were firstly studied by conventional squashing method. Fixed roots were then subjected to enzymatic maceration and air drying method (Kurata and Omura 1978;Fukui 1996) after necessary standardization (Jha and Bhowmick 2021;Bhowmick and Jha 2022) for the present plant material. Roots were firstly digested in a cocktail of 1% cellulase (Onuzuka RS), 0.15% pectolyase (Y-23), 0.75% macerozyme (R-10) and 1mM EDTA (pH 4.2) for varying time durations (45-50 min) at 37 °C before maceration on clean glass slides in a drop of 1:3 aceto-methanol solution.…”

“…The Giemsa stained slides were marked under the fluorescent microscope Zeiss Axioscop5 followed by destaining in 70% methanol for 45min. Fluorochorme staining with DAPI (4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) was performed following Schweizer (1976) after required standardization and modifications (Bhowmick and Jha 2021;Jha and Bhowmick 2021). Slides were incubated in McIlvaine buffer (0.1M citric acid, 0.2M Na 2 HPO 4 , pH 7.0) for 30 min and stained with 0.1mg/ml DAPI solution for 25-30 min in dark.…”