Genome size in wild Pisum species

Genome size was measured in 75 samples of the wild pea species Pisum abyssinicum, P. elatius, P. fulvum and P. humile by ethidium-bromide (EB) flow cytometry (internal standard: Triticum monococcum) and Feulgen densitometry (internal standard: Pisum sativum 'Kleine Rheinländerin'). Total variation of EB-DNA between samples covered 97.7% to 114.9% of the P. sativum value, and Feulgen DNA values were strongly correlated with EB-DNA values (r=0.9317, P < 0.001). Only P. fulvum was homogeneous in genome size (108.9% of P. sativum). Wide variation was observed between samples in P. abyssinicum (100.9-109.7%), P. elatius (97.7-114.9%) and P. humile (98.3-111.1% of P. sativum). In view of the world-wide genome size constancy in P. sativum, the present data are interpreted to show that the pea taxa with variable genome size are genetically inhomogeneous and that the current classification is not sufficient to describe the biological species groups adequately.