Research Article Genetic diversity between and within half-sib families of Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa Bonpl.) originating from native forest of the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Brazil nut tree is a species of economic importance for the Amazon region, known for the commercialization of its almonds. The objective of this work was to study the genetic diversity among half-sib progenies from different Brazil nut trees present in native forest in the municipality of Itauba, MT, belonging to the Brazilian Amazon. In a native forest area of nine hectares, fruits of nine parent trees, randomly selected in the plot, were collected. The seeds were planted at greenhouse and they were named, according to their origin, identifying seed tree and fruit. After the seed germination and initial development of the seedlings, leaves were collected for DNA extraction and analyzed with microsatellite molecular markers. It was performed analysis of molecular variance and cluster analysis of progenies and seed trees. There is greater genetic diversity between families than among progenies from the same family. The clustering of progenies from different families in the same group can be explained by the low dissimilarity between the seed trees. Among the loci analyzed in this study, eight were informative for evaluations of genetic diversity in Brazil nut, except BET12 and BET16 loci