Effect of polyploidy on stomata morphology in Vaccinium section Cyanococcus

Garcia, Ediel Esparza

Item

Effect of polyploidy on stomata morphology in Vaccinium section Cyanococcus

Garcia, Ediel Esparza

Date

2024-05-08

Abstract

Polyploidy, a widespread phenomenon in vascular plants, plays a fundamental role in plant evolution and adaptation. Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus, including blueberry species, comprises species of diploids, tetraploids, and hexaploids, making it an excellent model for studying the effect of polyploidy on morphology. Although stomata size has been shown to be correlated with ploidy level in a limited set of cultivated plants and one species pair of this group from herbarium specimens collected from the wild, the extent to which the pattern holds across the section in natural populations of the section is unknown. I investigated leaf stomatal size (length and width) and density across 18 species of Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus. Sampling comprised four herbarium specimens for each species from individuals with ploidy level determined through flow cytometry and included diploids, tetraploids, and hexaploids. I found significant differences between stomatal density and ploidy level, with diploids having higher stomatal density compared to tetraploids and hexaploids. Conversely, stomatal size were found to increase significantly with higher ploidy levels, with hexaploids exhibiting the largest stomata. Principal component and discriminant analyses based on the stomatal traits distinctly clustered diploids, tetraploids, and tetraploids. I also demonstrate the utility of stomatal traits as a substitute for determining ploidy levels in V. sect. Cyanococcus, providing a cost-effective, efficient, and accessible method for studying polyploidy in plants as compared with, e.g., the squash method or flow cytometry.