MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF
WILD CARROT SPECIES (DAUCUS SP.)
FROM ARGENTINA
Ibañez MS1, Camadro EL1,2, Massuelli RW 1,3
1Conicet, 2INTA Balcarce – FCA UNMdP, 3INTA La Consulta –
FCA UNCuyo (ecamadro@balcarce.inta.gov.ar)
Three wild Daucus species, closely related to the cultivated carrot,
D. carota L. (2n=2x=18), have been reported in Argentina: D.
montanus Humb. et Bonpl. ex Schult (2n=6x=66), D. pusillus
Michx. and D. montevidensis Link ex Sprengel. However, it has
been proposed that the last two species (both with 2n=2x=22) are
the same taxon. In order to increase the knowledge of wild
germplasm for its potencial use in the genetic improvement of
cultivated carrot, 12 accessions collected in sites already described
for D. pusillus or D. montevidensis were molecular characterized;
together with one accession of D. montanus and one accession of
D. carota used as outgroups. One hundred fifty four genotypes
were evaluated with three combinations of AFLP markers and 163
polymorphic bands were obtained.Data was subjected to cluster
and principal component analysis. Three groups were clearly
distinguished by both multivariate approaches: two of them
included the accessions used as outroups and the third was
composed by the accessions of D. pusillus and D montevidensis.
These results support the hypothesis that the accessions of these
last two species belong to the same taxon. Nevertheless, it is
necessary to increase the number and type of analyzed molecular
markers previous to reach to any definitive conclusion.