Auto- and allopolyploidy in Centaurea sect. Acrocentron s. l. (Asteraceae, Cardueae): karyotype and fluorochrome banding pattern analyses

Dysploidy and polyploidy are well documented in the large genus Centaurea, especially in sect. Acrocentron and in a small group of species from the Iberian Peninsula described as sect. Chamaecyanus, closely related to Acrocentron. We have explored two interesting cases of polyploid series in both sections: the polyploid series of Centaurea toletana in sect. Chamaecyanus and the series of C. ornata group in sect. Acrocentron. We have carried out a karyological study using both classic karyotype analyses and chromosome banding with fluorochromes. The C. toletana complex exhibits three different ploidy levels, diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid, the latter usually considered a different species, C. argecillensis. Our results do not contradict the original hypothesis of tetraploid C. toletana being an autopolyploid, but they suggest that this case of autopolyploidy, as many others, is the result of multiple events of polyploidization. Regarding C. argecillensis, our results confirm that it is an allopolyploid originated by hybridization of C. toletana and an unknown species. The colonizing habit of C. argecillensis, as it was the case of tetraploid C. toletana, suggests that the allopolyploid has multiple origins. The C. ornata complex exhibits four ploidy levels, diploid, tetraploid, hexaploid and endecaploid. In this section, however, the banding patterns have not helped us to determine the relation between the polyploid series and neither have allowed us to confirm the hypothesis of the possible progenitors of C. kunkelii.No disponible.