Unravelling the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Indian Capsicum through fluorescent banding

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.…”

Comparative Cytogenetics and Fluorescent Chromosome Banding in Five Indian Species of Dipcadi Medik

“…Ten to fifteen actively growing root tips from bulbs of each species were harvested during the months of June to August and pre-treated with 0.5% colchicine for 4 to 4.5 h at 14-16 • C [74]. The pre-treated root tips were fixed in a 3:1 methanol-acetic acid solution overnight and stored at −20 • C. The chromosome preparations were performed through standardization of the basic EMA technique following our earlier protocol [37,74] with modifications required.…”

“…Ten to fifteen actively growing root tips from bulbs of each species were harvested during the months of June to August and pre-treated with 0.5% colchicine for 4 to 4.5 h at 14-16 • C [74]. The pre-treated root tips were fixed in a 3:1 methanol-acetic acid solution overnight and stored at −20 • C. The chromosome preparations were performed through standardization of the basic EMA technique following our earlier protocol [37,74] with modifications required. Fixed root tips were placed in water and kept at 4 • C for 3 h. One to two mm root tips were excised and carefully placed inside a microtube containing a cocktail enzyme mixture containing 0.15% Pectolyase (Y-23) plus 0.75% Macerozyme (R-10) and 1% Cellulose (Onozuka RS) along with 1mM EDTA.…”

“…Giemsa-stained slides were de-stained with 70% methanol for 45 min, air dried and further used twice for two separate fluorochrome staining with 4 -6-Diamidino-2phenylindole (DAPI) and Chromomycin A 3 (CMA) following the protocol described earlier [74,76], with minor modifications. Slides were incubated in McIlvaine buffer I (0.1 M citric acid, 0.2 M Na 2 HPO 4 , pH 7.0) for 30 min and stained with 0.1 µg/mL DAPI solution for 25-30 min.…”