Assessment of genetic diversity of sweet potato in Puerto Rico.

Lorraine Rodriguez-Bonilla,Hugo E Cuevas,Dianiris Luciano-Rosario,Milly Montero-Rojas,Dimuth Siritunga,Fernando Bird-Pico,Matthew N Nelson

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0116184

Abstract

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is the seventh most important food crop due to its distinct advantages, such as adaptability to different environmental conditions and high nutritional value. Assessing the genetic diversity of this important crop is necessary due to the constant increase of demand for food and the need for conservation of agricultural and genetic resources. In Puerto Rico (PR), the genetic diversity of sweet potato has been poorly understood, although it has been part of the diet since Pre-Columbus time. Thus, 137 landraces from different localities around PR were collected and subjected to a genetic diversity analysis using 23 SSR-markers. In addition, 8 accessions from a collection grown in Gurabo, PR at the Agricultural Experimental Station (GAES), 10 US commercial cultivars and 12 Puerto Rican accessions from the USDA repository collection were included in this assessment. The results of the analysis of the 23 loci showed 255 alleles in the 167 samples. Observed heterozygosity was high across populations (0.71) while measurements of total heterozygosity revealed a large genetic diversity throughout the population and within populations. UPGMA clustering method revealed two main clusters. Cluster 1 contained 12 PR accessions from the USDA repository collection, while cluster 2 consisted of PR landraces, US commercial cultivars and the PR accessions from GAES. Population structure analysis grouped PR landraces in five groups including four US commercial cultivars. Our study shows the presence of a high level of genetic diversity of sweet potato across PR which can be related to the genetic makeup of sweet potato, human intervention and out-crossing nature of the plant. The history of domestication and dispersal of sweet potato in the Caribbean and the high levels of genetic diversity found through this study makes sweet potato an invaluable resource that needs to be protected and further studied.

Highlights

The conservation of crop genetic resources is vital for food security
The on-going abuse of urbanization and construction is responsible for the everyday loss of valuable land for agricultural production with wild-relatives of important crops being lost forever due to deforestation
Twenty two samples comprised of 10 known US commercial cultivars (GemGA, Jewel, Blanquita, Beauregard, Hernandez, Vardaman, Centennial, Porto Rico, Nugget and Bunch Porto Rico) and 12 known Puerto Rican accessions (Miguela-Arecibo, Tapato, Pepa de Oro, Amanecer, Francia, Mojave, Macana, Sunny, Frita, Wart, Buggsbunny and Papota) were obtained from in-vitro plants provided by The Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit (PGRCU) in Griffin, GA [13]

Summary

Introduction

The conservation of crop genetic resources is vital for food security. The on-going abuse of urbanization and construction is responsible for the everyday loss of valuable land for agricultural production with wild-relatives of important crops being lost forever due to deforestation. We assess the genetic diversity of sweet potato in Puerto Rico through the analysis of 23 SSR markers. These results are comparable to others [12, 29, 30] while differing slightly with Tumwegamire et al [16] who analyzed 92 African accessions with 26 SSR markers and found a mean value of 6.1 alleles per locus ranging from 2 to 11.

Results

Conclusion