Karyotype studies in some species of the family annonaceae.

Abstract

Seeds of various accessions of Annona muricata, Greenwayodendron suaveolens and Cleistopholis patens were collected from the wet forest, dry forest and derived savanna areas of Nigeria to determine their karyotype. Each of the species has a chromosome number of n = 7 (2n = 14). A pair of satellited chromosomes was observed in the genome of Greenwayodendron suaveolens and Cleistopholis patens. The centromeric positions in the species of Annonaceae investigated are nearly median with predominance of large chromosome types. The karyotypes were similar within the species studied, with small intra-and inter-generic variations in terms of size. The karyotypic patterns suggest that there is no evidence of chromosome rearrangement in their evolution. IFE Journal of Science Vol. 9 (2) 2007 pp. 161-166