The mission of the laboratory, established in September 2000 and currently forming a part of the Department of Evolutionary Plant Biology, is to provide accurate and timely estimates of genome size (both in absolute units and in relative terms as an indication of ploidy level) to meet demands of different research groups.
The data obtained are widely used in plant population and evolutionary biology, ecology, and biosystematics to address questions of phenotypic manifestation, spatial distribution, and evolutionary significance of genome duplication (polyploidy) and chromosomal variation (aneuploidy). The high speed and reliability of flow cytometry paves the way for large-scale surveys at the landscape, population, individual, and tissue levels. Combination with other, namely molecular, techniques is emphasized as it promises qualitative advances in our understanding of genome multiplication in the population biology of vascular plants.
The laboratory is equipped with one Partec CyFlow Space instrument (equipped with UV-chip for DAPI-stained nuclei analysis) used mainly for ploidy level estimation, Partec CyFlow SL and Partec CyFlow Space instruments (both equipped with solid state 532-nm laser for PI-stained nuclei analysis) used mainly to determine nuclear genome size. To achieve highly sensitive and fully resolved analysis for botanical application, a four light sources instrument CytoFlex (Beckman Coulter) is available, too. It provides variable setting including DAPI and PI stained nuclei, both supplemented with scatter light analysis (both forward and side).
Contact:
Price list of basic analyses for external collaborators / projects with the Faculty of Science, Charles University:
- Relative genome size estimation (ploidy level) from fresh plant material compared to a standard with known ploidy level (using DAPI and UV lamp): CZK 80,- / CZK 40,-
- Absolute genome size estimation from fresh plant material (using propidium iodide and laser): CZK 90,- / CZK 45,-