Genetic diversity assessment among Corema album (L.) D. Don (Ericaceae) genotypes based on ISSR markers and agro-morphological traits

João Jacinto,Pedro Arsénio,Pedro Brás De Oliveira,Jorge Capelo,Teresa Valdiviesso,Filomena Nóbrega

doi:10.1007/s10722-019-00849-8

Abstract

Corema album (L.) D. Don is the only species of the genus Corema growing naturally on sand dunes throughout the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, noted for the white coloured berries and nutritional value. The lack of information on genetic studies of the species is one of the most limitations for the establishment of this species as a new culture. Thus, this study focuses on the assessment of the genetic diversity based on inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) molecular markers and morphological traits. Seventy-one female plants, from four different sampled sites, were evaluated using six ISSR loci and eight morphological traits. Fifty polymorphic loci were detected. The dendrogram based on the UPGMA method and the principal coordinate analysis classified the 71 C. album genotypes into distinct clusters. The analyses revealed that accessions from the same geographical area were generally, but not entirely, clustered into the same group. Analysis of molecular variance was higher among populations, than within populations. The analysis of morphological traits revealed that there is no distinct separation among the C. album genotypes grown in different geographic areas. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the assessment of the genetic diversity in this species.

Highlights

This study focuses on the assessment of the genetic diversity based on inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) molecular markers and morphological traits
The highest resolving power was from UBC840 (17.24), with an average per primer of 11.26
Regarding molecular data the clustering analyses showed that Meco and Comporta were the populations with more dispersed accessions in the dendrogram, which could lead to a higher genetic diversity compared to Monte Clerigo and Duna de Quiaios

Summary

Introduction

Album), and in the Azores Islands on volcanic lava and ash fields Besides its great ecological importance (Guitian et al 1997; Zunzunegui et al 2006), its edible white berries have been highly appreciated and exploited (Oliveira and Dale 2012) due to the high nutritional value and important antioxidant properties. These berries contain high amounts of anti-oxidants, phenolic acids, flavonoids and low amounts of anthocyanins (Leon-Gonzalez et al 2013; Andrade et al 2017b) and are an important source of fibbers and sugars (Andrade et al 2017a). The establishment of this species as a new crop with fruit of high quality for responding to consumer demands and exploring market opportunities is a challenge

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