Findings obtained using different approaches indicated the occurrence of genomic size variations within V. faba. Significant differences in the basic amount of nuclear DNA (up to 34.6 per cent) between 39 local populations collected from the Mediterranean Basin were observed by means of Feulgen/DNA cytophotometry. By contrast, no difference in genome size was found when five commercial varieties were compared. Dot blot hybridization of FokI V. faba repeats to genomic DNAs showed up to fourfold differences in the redundancy of these sequences in the nuclear DNA of different accessions. In agreement with the cytophotometric findings, a significant, positive correlation was determined between the DNA contents of populations and the copy numbers of DNA sequences related to FokI repeats. Significant differences between accessions were found in the length of the chromosome complement at metaphase, and these differences were particularly apparent in certain chromosome pairs. A positive correlation was found between the length of the complement and the genome size of the populations. These results are discussed in relation to other data in the literature on intraspecific nuclear DNA changes.Keywords: DNA cytophotometry, FokI DNA sequences, intraspecific DNA changes, karyometry, repetitive DNA, V/cia faba. tntroduction Today, there is a growing consensus of opinion that proliferation or deletion of nuclear DNA sequences does not occur only in the case of divergence and evolution of species. Indeed, many results obtained in different materials have shown that fluid domains, which are capable of rapid quantitative changes, may exist in the genome. These DNA domains, which are generally made up of repeated sequences, possibly occur more commonly, and express their ability to vary more frequently, in plant genomes than in animal genomes (reviewed for plants by Walbot & Cullis, 1985;Cionini, 1989; Bassi, 1990; Cullis, 1990; NagI, 1990).Redundancy variation of DNA sequences may accompany certain developmental processes. It has been suggested that they play a regulatory role in development (Frediani et a!., 1994 and references Because they may be of great biological importance and since many of their aspects are poorly understood, the above-mentioned genomic changes deserve thorough investigation. These changes have been shown to occur in many plant species (see Cavallini & Natali, 1991 show redundancy variations in Helianthus annuus (Natali et al., 1993), while quantitative differences in the nuclear DNA between populations of hexaploid Festuca arundinacea are mainly the result of changes in a fraction of highly repeated sequences (Ceccarelli et a!., 1992). The chromosomal organization of varying DNA sequences, as well as the mechanism by which intraspecific alterations in genome size and organization are produced and controlled, are almost entirely unknown.We investigated the nuclear DNA changes in Vicia faba by studying a number of local populationscollected from the Mediterranean Basin. Results are reported of DNA cytophot...