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SUMMARY:Wolffia arrhiza: A Cryptic Species Complex within the Genus Wolffi
 a
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260929T141500Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260929T143000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260916T130420Z
UID:indico-contribution-2907@cern.ch
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Anton Stepanenko (Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetic
 s and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben\, 06466 Seeland\, Germany)\nHa
 rnessing plant diversity is essential for modern agriculture. Duckweeds ha
 ve attracted increasing attention as novel crops with applications ranging
  from food and feed production to molecular farming. Species complexes\, w
 hich may involve hybridization and polyploidization events\, represent an 
 important source of hidden genetic diversity that can be utilized for crop
  improvement. Recently\, species complexes have been described in the duck
 weed genus *Lemna* (Stepanenko et al.\, 2026\; Morello et al.\, 2026)\, su
 ggesting that a similar pattern may also exist within the genus *Wolffia*.
  However\, evolutionary relationships and species boundaries in *Wolffia* 
 remain poorly understood due to the high morphological similarity among it
 s species. \nIn this study\, we used an integrated cytogenetic and molecul
 ar approach to investigate the diversity of *Wolffia arrhiza*. By combinin
 g flow cytometry\, chromosome analysis\, genomic *in situ* hybridization (
 GISH)\, morphological traits\, chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers\, we id
 entified distinct diploid genetic lineages as well as reciprocal triploid 
 hybrids between them.\nOur findings reveal unexpectedly high diversity wit
 hin *Wolffia arrhiza*\, supporting its recognition as a species complex an
 d highlighting the need for particular attention when describing and ident
 ifying accessions within this group.\n\nhttps://indico.unina.it/event/117/
 contributions/2907/
LOCATION:Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Napoli F
 ederico II\, Portici\, Italy Sala Cinese
URL:https://indico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2907/
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