RESUMEN
Chrysobalanus icaco es una planta que pertenece a la familia Chrysobalanaceae. En Tabasco, Mexico, esta planta se distribuye en los municipios de la costa. La finalidad de esta investigacion fue la caracterizacion cromosomica de dos fenotipos con color de fruto rosa y purpura mediante tincion convencional. Con tal fin, se recolectaron frutos maduros en la comunidad de Penjamo, Paraiso, Tabasco. Las semillas se dejaron germinar por 30 dias a una temperatura constante de 30 °C. Se utilizaron raicillas de 1,00 cm de longitud, las cuales fueron sometidas a hidrolisis acida y posterior tincion con orceina. Se fotografiaron 295 metafases y se midieron los cromosomas de 35 placas metafasicas del fenotipo purpura y 30 del fenotipo rosado. Ambos fenotipos presentaron 18 cromosomas pequenos, los cuales se ordenaron en nueve pares homologos segun su tamano relativo. No se observaron diferencias morfologicas ni numericas entre los cariotipos de ambos fenotipos. Ademas la prueba de t-Student (α=0,05) revelo que no se encuentran diferencias significativas entre los complementos cromosomicos de ambos fenotipos.
Chrysobalanus icaco is a plant that belongs to the Chrysobalanaceae family. In Tabasco, Mexico, this plant is distributed in the municipalities of the coastline. The main purpose of this research was to characterize the chromosomal structure of phenotypes with pink and purple fruits by the use of conventional staining. To this end, mature fruits were collected in the community of Penjamo, Paraiso, Tabasco. Seeds were allowed to germinate for 30 days at a constant temperature of 30° C. Roots of 1.00 cm in length were subjected to acid hydrolysis and subsequent staining with orcein. A total of 295 metaphases were photographed and chromosomes of 35 metaphases of the purple phenotype and 30 of the pink phenotype were measured. Both phenotypes presented 18 small chromosomes, which were ordered in nine homologous pairs according to their relative size. No morphological or numerical differences were observed between the karyotypes of both phenotypes. In addition, the t-Student (α=0.05) test did not reveal significant differences between the chromosomes complements of both phenotypes.