Dear Colleagues,

The discovery of chromosomes about 150 years ago attracted the attention of biologists, who began an intense research activity with the aim of understanding the function of these structures in the reproduction and inheritance of living organisms. This scientific fervor gave origin to a new science: cytogenetics, the science of chromosomes. Over a few decades the field of cytogenetics became ample and diversified for the aspects regarding the chromosome and the species investigated. A relevant part of this research was addressed to plants. The plant kingdom exhibits an extraordinary variety of chromosome complements which differ in number and morphology. This observation led to the consideration of the chromosome as one of the principle factors of plant evolution and diversification. The binomial cytogenetics-plant evolution became ever more convincing, receiving new impulse from the development of the molecular cytogenetic techniques based on in situ hybridization such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and its variants. The availability of these techniques for chromosome and genome analysis favored great advantages in the study of evolutionary processes, phylogenetic relationships, and the mechanisms of speciation in plants. A further benefit of the introduction of these new tools is the increased number of investigated species. With the application of FISH, many obstacles connected to the small size and uniformity of chromosomes were overcome. This led to a marked advancement in studies of many species having this type of chromosome, not only for physical mapping for chromosome identification, but also as an efficient means for evolutionary studies. However there still remain many taxa which are scarcely known or even unknown from the cytogenetic point of view. Considering all this, this Special Issue in Plants entitled “Cytogenetics and Plant Evolution” has been conceived to promote the study and the knowledge of species and groups of species that have until now overlooked by cytogeneticists. It is our conviction that the more we know about the chromosome constitution of species the better we can understand the mechanisms operating in plant evolution.
For realizing this goal, we encourage the submission of original research on the following categories of plant species:
Fruit tree species: minor fruit tree species, minor crop species, neglected and underutilized species, and wild species of the Mediterranean biome.
Papers covering the following topics would be especially welcome:
Comparative cytogenetic mapping; Karyotype and genome evolution; Polyploidy and dysploidy; and Meiotic alterations.
Additionally, original articles regarding chromosome structure and karyotype analysis would be appreciated if the study comprises a broader evolutionary context rather than a report on a single species.

Dr. Egizia Falistocco
Guest Editor

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• Comparative cytogenetic mapping
• Karyotype and genome evolution
• Polyploidy and dysploidy
• meiotic alterations