In plant breeding, in new breeding and in the routine production of seed or the production of young plants, there are a number of scenarios in which natural or induced variations in the ploidy level of the plant material can occur. These are often undesirable, sometimes also desired changes (induced processes) of ploidy. In any case, a control of the ploidy level of the produced plant material is indicated. In production, this is important for quality assurance reasons, in breeding, in order to select material of defined ploidy for further process steps.
An unwanted variation in the ploidy level, i.e. a change in the number of chromosome sets, can have a number of consequences. This can lead to undesirable morphological changes and growth disorders, which represent a considerable lack of quality. In the production of seed or young plants, this has massive economic implications for the producer himself or the farmer and gardener, who generates a lower yield per cultivated area.
Within programs for the new breeding of varieties and cultivars, one is dependent on working with genetically precisely defined material. Undesirable variations in the ploidy level of individuals used for breeding are taboo here. In addition, such a change can lead to plants being fundamentally infertile or at least having difficulties in reproduction. Therefore, corresponding variants should also be identified and selected early on in order to save resources.
Ploidy determinations can be carried out in various ways. Most of them are time-consuming and material-intensive and can at best be carried out on only a few samples. In addition, expert knowledge is required, as complex laboratory techniques are used here. The fast, cost-effective and reliable determination of the ploidy level by means of flow cytometry is now the gold standard for this analysis. In this process, the cell nuclei are extracted from the tissue and the DNA of the cell nuclei is labeled with a fluorescent dye. The fluorescence intensity of the cell nuclei is measured via flow cytometry and correlated with the ploidy level. This process can be largely automated, so that a large number of individual plant samples can be measured in a short time with few resources.
The CyStain™ reagents for ploidy determination, together with the specially adapted CyFlow™ RP Analyzer from Sysmex Partec GmbH, offer you a complete package of perfectly matched reagents and analyzer. Thanks to further accessories, such as the fast CyFlow™ AL-30 Autoloader and the competent advice from our experienced product specialists, Sysmex Partec is the only provider worldwide to offer a coordinated complete package for the flow cytometric determination of ploidy and aneuploidy.
CyStain™ reagents, such as the CyStain™ UV Precise P, the CyStain™ UV Ploidy or the CyStain™ UV OxProtect, are available in various variants and packaging units and can thus be precisely tailored to the user profile and the plants to be examined. In addition, like all Sysmex Partec products, they are produced in accordance with the strict quality requirements of EN ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 9001:2015, so that you are always on the safe side with our CyStain™ reagents.
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