Preserving Biodiversity in Marginal Rural Areas: Assessment of Morphological and Genetic Variability of a Sicilian Common Bean Germplasm Collection

Plants

MariaCarola Fiore¹  Francesco Sunseri²  Anna Scialabba³  Francesco Mercati⁴  Ignazio Digangi⁵  FrancescoMaria Raimondo⁶ 

[1] Council for Agricultural Research and Economics Research Centre for Plant Protection and Certification (S.S. 113 km 245,500), 90011 Bagheria, Italy;Department of Agraria, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Località Feo di Vito snc, 89124 Reggio Calabria, Italy;Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Via Archirafi 38, 90123 Palermo, Italy;Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources (IBBR), National Research Council, Corso Calatafimi 414, 90129 Palermo, Italy;Living Plants Germplasm Bank of Nebrodi, Contrada Pirato, 98060 Ucria (ME), Italy;PLANTA/Autonomous Center for Research, Documentation and Training, 90123 Palermo, Italy;

关键词: common bean;    genetic diversity;    morphological descriptors;    seedbank;   

DOI  :  10.3390/plants9080989

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The historical cultivation of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) has resulted in the development of local populations/cultivars in restricted Italian rural areas. Many common bean landraces, still cultivated in small mountain areas from Sicily, have become outdated and endangered due to the commercial varieties spreading. These accessions are poorly known but often represent a genetic heritage to be preserved and enhanced. The ex situ conservation of fifty-seven Sicilian common bean landraces was carried out at the “Living Plants Germplasm Bank” at Ucria (Messina, Italy), founded by the Nebrodi Regional Park, together with the “Sicilian Plant Germplasm Repository” of University of Palermo (SPGR/PA). To assess the germplasm genetic diversity, nineteen morphological traits and eight Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) were used. Genetic distances among landraces were calculated to construct a clustering tree by using unweighted pair group method arithmetic (UPGMA). Seed germplasm diversity of Sicilian common bean varied from 80.7% to 93.3%, based on six seed descriptors and six leaf, flower, and pod descriptors, respectively, while cluster genetic analysis depicted a clear separation among all the 57 landraces. Principal coordinates (PCoA) and STRUCTURE analyses showed a prevalent rate of admixture between Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools in Sicilian common bean collection, confirming its heterogeneity. The observed high level of diversity evidenced the needs to adopt accurate criterion to plan a definitive ex situ germplasm collection to share agrobiodiversity with local farmers and to avoid any further loss of genetic resources in rural and protected areas.

【 授权许可】

Unknown