A Comparative Study of the Three Cucumber Cultivars Using Fluorescent Staining and Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization

Abstract

A molecular cytogenetic survey of Cucumis sativus L. revealed a chromosomal polymorphism among 2 European pickling cultivars of ‘Borszczagowski’ and ‘Monastyrski’, and one Japanese cultivar of ‘Zibai’ by fluorescent banding method with chromomycin A₃ (CMA) and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with the probes of 5S, 45S rDNA and telomere repeat sequences. Heterochromatic banding polymorphism was found in some chromosomes with CMA and DAPI staining, whereas no chromosomal polymorphism was found in FISH. Thus, the FISH allowed us to identify all of homologous chromosomes in each cucumber cultivars, while CMA and DAPI banding showed an easy detection of the polymorphism in cucumber chromosomes, even in close related cultivars between European pickling cultivars.