CARYOLOGICAL STUDY OF Chrysobalanus icaco (CHRYSOBALANACEA) IN PARAÍSO, TABASCO, MÉXICO

Abstract

Chrysobalanus icaco is a plant that belongs to the Chrysobalanaceae family. In Tabasco, Mexico, this plant is distributed in the municipalities of the coastline. The main purpose of this research was to characterize the chromosomal structure of phenotypes with pink and purple fruits by the use of conventional staining. To this end, mature fruits were collected in the community of Pénjamo, Paraíso, Tabasco. Seeds were allowed to germinate for 30 days at a constant temperature of 30° C. Roots of 1.00 cm in length were subjected to acid hydrolysis and subsequent staining with orcein. A total of 295 metaphases were photographed and chromosomes of 35 metaphases of the purple phenotype and 30 of the pink phenotype were measured. Both phenotypes presented 18 small chromosomes, which were ordered in nine homologous pairs according to their relative size. No morphological or numerical differences were observed between the karyotypes of both phenotypes. In addition, the t-Student (α=0.05) test did not reveal significant differences between the chromosomes complements of both phenotypes. Key words:karyotype, tropical shrubs