Cytogenetic and cytological analysis of Colombian cape gooseberry

35 The cape gooseberry, Physalis peruviana L., is a crop that is transitioning from a semi-wild rural food 36 source to becoming an international export commodity fruit deserving of greater attention from the 37 scientific community, producers, policy makers, and opinion makers. Despite its importance, the crop 38 has serious technological development challenges, mainly associated with the limited supply of 39 genetically improved materials for producers and consumers. To bridge this gap, the present study 40 Cytogenetic and cytological analysis in Physalis peruviana 2 determined the level of ploidy of 100 genotypes of gooseberry from a working collection by counting 41 the number of chromosomes and chloroplasts, to include them in the breeding program. The number of 42 chromosomes in dividing cells of root-tip meristems, as well as the number of chloroplasts per guard 43 cell, from plants grown under in vitro and ex vitro conditions were determined. Haploid with 24 44 chromosomes, doubled haploid, tetraploid with 48 chromosomes, aneuploid (44 and 49 chromosomes), 45 and mixoploid genotypes with 36 to 86 chromosomes were found. The number of chloroplasts per guard 46 cell ranged from 4-8, 6-16, 7-16 and 9-21 for the haploid, aneuploid, doubled haploid-tetraploid, and 47 mixoploid genotypes, respectively. The results showed evidence of a high cytogenetic diversity in the 48 evaluated genotypes. 49