First report on DNA content of three species of Amorphophallus

The Amorphophallus genus is a perennial herb which belongs to the family Araceae. There are more than 170 species in this genus, which is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. As a kind of food and medicine Amorphophallus has been used for more than 2000 years in China. Because of the high content of konjac glucomannan (KGM) and dietary fiber, it has attracted more attention worldwide. In this article, the DNA contents of A. konjac, A. albus and A. bulbifer in China, A. albus, A. paeoniifolius and A. muelleri in Indonesia were estimated by using flow cytometry. In the samples of China, the DNA contents were 12.95 ± 0.73 pg/2C in A. konjac, 10.51 ± 0.05 pg/2C in A. albus and 17.61 pg/2C in A. bulbifer, and for Indonesia, 14.16 ± 0.48 pg/2C in A. albus (flowering), 8.49 ± 0.2 pg/2C in A. paeoniifolius and 17.84 ± 1.46 pg/2C in A. muelleri were used. Interspecific variation was found significantly (P < 0.01), suggesting that DNA content might be a parameter that can be used to differentiate the species. Intraspecific variation has also been found significantly (P < 0.01), whether in the same region or between two regions. As far as we know, this is the first report on genome size estimation of the A. konjac, A. albus and A. muelleri using flow cytometry. Understanding the genome size of Amorphophallus species will help to sequence the genome and analyse the genetic diversity, evolutionary relationship and geographical variation pattern of Amorphophallus species.