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Indian squill, Urginea indica is a very important and rare medicinal plant. It is found growing in India, Africa and Mediterranean regions. Due to its medicinal properties the bulb of Urginea has found its place in British and European pharmacopeia. In the present study, the existing variation in the DNA content among six accessions of Urginea indica, collected from diverse regions of Karnataka, India has been assessed using flow cytometry. Flow cytometry is a convenient and rapid method that has been used extensively for estimation of nuclear genome size in plants. Flow cytometry analysis of propidium iodide (PI) stained nuclei isolated from young root tissues of U. indica were used to estimate its genome size, using Allium cepa as reference standard with a reported 2C value of 33.5 pg of DNA. The nuclear DNA content ranged from 36.689 ± 0.17 pg in Magadi accession to 69.73 ± 0.29 pg of DNA in Nagarhole accession, with the DNA content of other accessions being Ranganathittu with 48.642 ± 0.4 pg, Karighatta with 53.02 ± 1.152 pg, Channamallipura with 48.84 ± 0.20 pg and B R Hills with 44.59 ± 0.17 pg of DNA. The known genome size of U. indica together with other genomic data would be utilized in advancing biochemical and evolutionary studies of the genus Urginea.
Key words: Flow cytometry, Propidium Iodide, nuclear DNA content, Galbraith’s buffer, intra-specific variation.