Ploidy level versus DNA ploidy level:: an appeal for consistent terminology

There is an ever-increasing amount of cytogenetic data in plant sciences obtained by cytometric techniques, particularly flow cytometry. However, as these methods determine nuclear DNA amount irrespective of the number of chromosomes, a discrepancy between cytometric and karyological data may occur. To avoid potential bias, we appeal for consistency, distinguishing between the terms ploidy/aneuploidy referring to chromosome numbers and DNA ploidy/DNA aneuploidy to nuclear DNA content.