Genetic diversity revealed by morphological traits and ISSR markers in hazelnut germplasm from northern Spain

Abstract

Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) has been a traditional crop in northern Spain. As a result of germplasm exploration over 3 years , 90 trees were selected in this region. This study describes phenotypic variation in nut and husk traits and investigates genetic relationships among selections and cultivars using inter simple sequences repeat (ISSR) markers. The local selections were phenotypically diverse and many had characteristics appreciated by the market. Eleven ISSR primers, which generated 66 polymorphic bands, were used in the analysis. The graph from principal coordinates analysis of the molecular marker data showed two main groups, one for the local selections and the other for the standard cultivars. The dendrogram generated from UPGMA cluster analysis showed the same two main groups. The results suggest that the local accessions are closely related to each other, but are relatively distant from the standard cultivars of eastern Spain, Italy and the USA. Selections from northern Spain may be directly useful as new cultivars or alternatively as parents in breeding programmes. The collection and preservation of this genetic diversity is important.

Genetic relationship among wild, landraces and cultivars of hazelnut (Corylus avellana) from Portugal revealed through ISSR and AFLP markers

“…Differentiation between Portuguese wild genotypes and landraces, and the strong relationship among the Portuguese landraces, suggest that the Portuguese landraces Ca19, Ca20, Ca21, Ca22 and Ca25 may have been derived from the introduction of a few primitive cultivars, followed by a relatively local evolution that could include crosses among them and with local wild hazelnut. The differentiation between Portuguese landraces and the group of cultivars is in agreement with the differentiation found by Ferreira et al (2010) with ISSR, Campa et al (2011) and Boccacci et al (2013) with SSR among locally cultivated accessions and a group of reference cultivars (diverse set representing the world's most important production areas). There is an agreement in the diversity analyses between the PCoAs and the hierarchical analysis, despite the relatively low proportion of total data captured in the PCoA plot.…”

“…ISSR markers were more efficient than the AFLPs assay for polymorphism detection, as they detected 98.040 % as compared to 87.328 % for AFLPs markers. Ferreira et al (2010) found an average of six polymorphic bands per primer for the ISSRs, a lower result than the one now found for ISSRs. For AFLP, Kafkas et al (2009) found in hazelnuts a much higher mean number of polymorphic bands (29.88) than for ISSR (3.96) or RAPD (3.84).…”

“…Some reports suggested that some local cultivars were selected from local wild populations (Lagerstedt 1975;Tasias Valls 1975;Thompson et al 1996;Gökirmak et al 2009). However, Boccacci et al (2013), Campa et al (2011) and Ferreira et al (2010) did not find evidences of wild ancestrality in local cultivars. Crossings of economically important C. avellana cultivars with wild genotypes were reported by Mehlenbacher (1991) aiming specific traits.…”

“…Amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) have also been used as a DNA fingerprinting technique to assess genome-wide diversity for individuals, populations and species, cultivars identification (Ferrari et al 2004;Kafkas et al 2009). ISSR was also used with the same purpose by Ferreira et al 2010 andGürcan andMehlenbacher 2010. In other woody species, AFLP and ISSR have also been used in analysis of genetic diversity in Citrus spp.…”

A multidisciplinary approach to enhance the conservation and use of hazelnut Corylus avellana L. genetic resources

“…Nearly all efforts have been focused on cultivated forms largely to better understand their origin, to fingerprint germplasm accessions, and to evaluate genetic diversity Botta 2009, 2010;Boccacci et al 2006Boccacci et al , 2008Gökirmak et al 2009;Gürcan et al 2010). Recently, a first on-farm exploration was conducted on local ecotypes and on wild accessions in northern Spain (Asturias) by Ferreira et al (2010) and Campa et al (2011). Finally, the long history of utilization and production by humans, probably predating the Roman era (Rosengarten 1984;Bacchetta et al 2011;Boccacci and Botta 2009), makes this crop interesting from a social point of view, with a precious role in sustainable traditional agricultural systems.…”