Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris L.) is a popular landscaping plant. Our aim was to obtain a large set of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, to reveal the precise identities of the investigated S. vulgaris accessions, and to discover genetic relationships among them. The studied plant material included local Finnish, previously unidentified accessions, known reference cultivars, and so-called historical accessions i.e., old shrubs growing in historic cultural landscapes. We intended to verify cultivar names for some valuable local common lilac accessions and to provide insights into the history of common lilac cultivation in Finland. In the analyses, we used a set of 15,007 SNP markers. First, polymorphic information contents were calculated (mean 0.190, range 0.012–0.500 per marker). Then, to investigate genetic relationships among genotypes, a phylogenetic tree was constructed, and a principal coordinate analysis was conducted. A Bayesian analysis of population structure was performed to determine the number and distribution of genetic clusters among samples. Genetic marker data combined with existing historical and phenotypic knowledge revealed novel information on the unidentified cultivars and on the genetic relationships among studied accessions and solved the arrival and early history of common lilac in Finland. Overall, such comprehensive genomic characterization and deep understanding of genetic relationships of S. vulgaris can be used when utilizing present cultivars and developing new ones in future breeding programs.

Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) remains a major threat to cassava production in Mozambique. Breeding for CBSD resistant varieties that are also preferred by farmers is an integral part of managing the disease. The main objective of the study was to determine the genetic relationship between farmer-preferred varieties from Mozambique with those from Tanzania whose resistance to CBSD is known and some of which are being used as parents in quantitative trait loci (QTL) detection studies. To achieve this, 103 genotypes collected from farmers’ field in three provinces of Mozambique were genotyped together with five varieties from Tanzania whose CBSD response is well known. Thirty-five single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers with a high minor allele frequency in East African landraces were used. Results indicated that seven Mozambican genotypes were genetically similar to either one of the four Tanzanian CBSD resistant genotypes while Xino Nn'gole was genetically identical to Namikonga a CBSD resistant variety, based on the SNPs used here. Little genetic differentiation was observed in cassava between provinces, with the majority of genetic variation distributed within individual genotypes (98%) rather than among provinces (2%). Both observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity in three provinces were generally high (Ho = 0.496) and (He = 0.455). There is a high likelihood that the eight genotypes similar/identical to those from Tanzania may share the same QTL associated with CBSD resistance thus should be further evaluated for agronomic traits as well as response to CBSD.

Safflower is a multi-purpose oilseed crop, primarily known for good quality oil containing highest polyunsaturated fatty acid content (>80%) among edible oils. In this study, a core subset of 148 safflower accessions representing 15 countries, predominantly of Indian origin, was evaluated for agronomic traits and characterized for genetic diversity, population structure and linkage disequilibrium (LD) using 44 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci across 11 linkage groups to enable its utilization in breeding and genetic mapping purposes. The collection had substantial variation for seed yield-related traits. SSR allelic variation was low as indicated by average number of alleles (3.6) per locus, gene diversity (0.314) and polymorphism information content (0.284). Cluster analysis (neighbour-joining tree) revealed five major genotypic groups with very low bootstrap support. STRUCTURE analysis showed recognizable population structure; based on membership coefficients ( ≥ 0.75), 52% accessions were classified into four populations (K= 4) and the remaining 48% accessions into admixture group. High Fst values (0.30–0.48) suggested that the populations were substantially differentiated. Analysis of molecular variance results showed that maximum of genetic variation (85%) was explained between individuals within the population suggesting that the population structure was only weak. About 1.9% of SSR locus pairs were in LD, which appeared to be low. High phenotypic variation, mild population structure and low level of LD among unlinked loci suggested that the core subset can be explored for association mapping of seed yield components in safflower.

Thymus is a widely distributed genus in the Mediterranean region with several species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula. The genetic relationships among the 12 major Thymus taxa, T. albicans, T. caespititius, T. camphoratus, T. capitellatus, T. carnosus, T.lotocephalus, T. mastichina L. ssp. mastichina, T. pulegioides, T. villosus ssp. lusitanicus, T. villosus ssp. villosus, T. zygis ssp. sylvestris and T. zygis ssp. zygis, which occur in Portugal were assessed by AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms) markers. A general agreement was found between the genetic relationships estimated by the AFLP markers and the accepted Thymus taxonomy based on morphological traits and essential oil content. The AFLP markers also supported suggestions for refinement of the taxonomy of this genus.

Woad (Isatis tinctoria L.) was introduced in Europe in ancient times to produce indigo, a natural blue pigment used mainly for dyestuff. This species was cultivated in Portugal until the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the inner North and South. A set of nine inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers generated 177 reproducible fragments, of which 171 were polymorphic. The mean number of fragments/accession was 111, ranging between 100 (Portugal-Coimbra) and 124 (Poland). The total polymorphism observed was 0.3272, the average polymorphism was 0.1784 and the gene differentiation between accessions was 0.4546. Polymorphism ranged between 53.8% (Austria) and 73.1% (Belgium). The genetic relationship among woad accessions was obtained with unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean dendrogram based on a molecular marker, clearly clustering the woad accessions according to their geographic origin. The genetic diversity observed in this collection shows that there is a considerable potential for its improvement and that ISSR could be used to evaluate intra- and inter-accession similarities in I. tinctoria species.

Sanfratellano is a native Sicilian horse breed, mainly reared in the north east of the Island, developed in the 19th century from local dams and sires with a restricted introgression of Oriental, African and, more recently, Maremmano stallions. In this study, the genetic relationships and admixture among Sanfratellano, the other two Sicilian autochthonous breeds and Maremmano breed were assessed using a set of microsatellites. The main goals were to infer the impact of Maremmano breed in the current Sanfratellano horse and to provide genetic information useful to improve the selection strategies of the Sanfratellano horse. The whole sample included 384 horses (238 Sanfratellano, 50 Sicilian Oriental Purebred, 30 Sicilian Indigenous and 66 Maremmano), chosen avoiding closely related animals. A total of 111 alleles from 11 microsatellite loci were detected, from four at HTG7 to 15 at ASB2 locus. The mean number of alleles was the lowest in Oriental Purebred (6.7), the highest in Sanfratellano (8.3). All the breeds showed a high level of gene diversity (He) ranging from 0.71 ± 0.04 in Sicilian Oriental Purebred to 0.81 ± 0.02 in Sicilian Indigenous. The genetic differentiation index was low; only about 6% of the diversity was found among breeds. Nei’s standards (DS) and Reynolds’ (DR) genetic distances reproduced the same population ranking. Individual genetic distances and admixture analysis revealed that: (a) nowadays Maremmano breed does not significantly influence the current Sanfratellano breed; (b) within Sanfratellano breed, it is possible to distinguish two well-defined groups with different proportions of Indigenous blood.

Artichoke, Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus is a diploid outcrossing species, originated in the Mediterranean basin, which has been much appreciated both for its tasty heads and pharmaceutical properties since ancient times. The species includes two more botanical varieties: C. cardunculus var. altilis, the cultivated leafy cardoon and C. cardunculus var. sylvestris, the presumed wild progenitor of artichoke, which are completely interfertile with the cultivated globe artichoke and all together they form the primary gene pool of artichoke. The secondary gene pool includes at least seven wild Cynara species. A high level of morphological variation, essentially in head shape and size, is observed in artichoke varieties. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used in order to assess genetic variation and relationships among artichoke varieties and between these and some of their wild relatives. A selected group of wild and cultivated artichoke accessions belonging to different clusters detected on a morphological basis and from various geographical origins was chosen for the analysis. Twenty-four primer combinations were initially tested to evaluate their ability to detect polymorphism between samples. Nine primer combinations were chosen for further analysis on 39 cultivated artichokes, two wild progenitors, one cultivated cardoon, one sample of C. cornigera, one of C. humilis and two samples of C. syriaca. A high level of polymorphism was observed for AFLP markers. The polymorphic bands obtained were scored and used to assess genetic similarity among wild and cultivated accessions and finally to construct a UPGMA dendrogram and principal co-ordinate (PCO) analysis based on Jaccard's similarity index. The artichoke wild progenitor was quite distantly related to the cultigen and occupied a separate branch in the dendrogram. However, wild C. cardunculus was more similar to the artichoke than were the other wild species, corroborating the idea that it is the wild progenitor of cultivated artichokes. Within the cultivated artichoke, the dendrogram derived from AFLP analysis produced branches which roughly corresponded to the groups obtained on the basis of morphological and physiological characteristics. The groups were homogeneous enough, except for the ‘Romaneschi’ types, which proved to be quite genetically variable, and did not cluster in a single branch. This is interpreted on the grounds of the possible selection pathway of this more modern morpho-group.

A partir del estudio cualitativo y cuantitativo de 46 caracteres morfológicos, obtenidos a partir de recopilaciones bibliográficas, se analizan las relaciones existentes entre 17 poblaciones equinas de la Península Ibérica (14 razas españolas y 3 portuguesas).

Los resultados obtenidos permiten clasificar a las diferentes razas en sus correspondientes troncos ancestrales: Equus ferus gmelini, Equus ferus przewalski y Equus ferus solutreensis, integrándose los representantes de los dos primeros grupos en el llamado Tronco Tarpánico.

El promedio de distancia morfológica entre razas, medida como MCD (Mean Character Difference, o promedio de diferencias entre caracteres), tomó un valor de 0,51± 0,11. El análisis cuantitativo de los datos indica que el grupo que forman los poneys ibéricos es morfológicamente muy semejante, a diferencia de lo que ocurre con los grupos de los caballos de silla y los de tiro.

Se analizan las relaciones y se discuten las causas de la variabilidad morfológica entre grupos.