AUTHOR=Julião Sirlei Aparecida , Ribeiro Christiane do Valle , Lopes Juliana Mainenti Leal , Matos Elyabe Monteiro de , Reis Aryane Campos , Peixoto Paulo Henrique Pereira , Machado Marco Antonio , Azevedo Ana Luisa Sousa , Grazul Richard Michael , Campos José Marcello Salabert de , Viccini Lyderson Facio 

TITLE=Induction of Synthetic Polyploids and Assessment of Genomic Stability in Lippia alba

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00292

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2020.00292

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Polyploidy (whole-genome duplication; WGD) is widely recognized as a major evolutionary force in plants and have been documented in the genus Lippia (Verbenaceae). Lippia alba, the most studied species, has been described as a polyploid complex involving at least four ploidal levels. L. alba presents remarkable chemical and genetic variation and represents an excellent model to understand the genome organization. Although the economic and medicinal importance of the species has been widely described, no established polyploidization protocol has been reported so far. Here, we described the production of synthetic polyploid plants of L. alba using colchicine. The ploidal levels were estimated by flow cytometry and chromosome counting. In addition, FISH and molecular markers approaches were used to confirm the stability of the synthetic polyploids. The major component of the essential oils was estimated by GCMS to compare with the natural individuals. Tetraploids and triploids were produced providing new opportunities to investigate medicinal, pharmacological, and economic applications as well as to address intrinsic questions involved in the WGD process in tropical plants.