DNA content in eurasian sturgeon species determined by flow cytometry

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The nuclear DNA content in 10 species of chondrostean fishes was measured by flow cytometry. The sterletAcipenser ruthenusblood cells were used as an internal standard. The sterlet DNA content was calculated on the basis of comparison with theXenopus laevisblood cells, 2C = 6.30 pg. In the tetraploidA. ruthenusandA. stellatusthe DNA content comprises 3.74 pg/nucleus and is practically invariant; inHuso dauricusit is almost the same, 3.74–3.81 pg; and inA. nudiventrisit is a little higher, 3.88–4.04 pg. In the oldest chondrostean,Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni, the nuclear DNA content is slightly lower, 2C = 3.46–3.48 pg, and in the American paddlefishPolyodon spathulait is lower still, 3.17 pg. In two octoploid sturgeons,A. baeriandA. gueldenstaedti, the DNA content is twice as high as that of the sterlet, 8.29–8.31 and 7.86–7.88 pg, respectively; a very similar amount, 8.24–8.42 pg, was determined in the hybridHuso huso×A. ruthenus. In the Sakhalin sturgeon,A. medirostris(=A. mikadoi), the DNA content is two times higher than in the octoploids, 13.93–14.73 pg; therefore its ploidy may be 16n and the number of chromosomes could be 500.