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Characterization of a world collection of Agropyron cristatum accessions

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Abstract

The genetic diversity was studied of 115 Agropyron cristatum accessions from 17 countries. Tetraploids were the most common (74.8%), followed by diploid (16.3%) and hexaploid (6.9%). We observed a relation between geographic distribution and ploidy level. The tetraploids, the most widespread, were found from Europe through Russia to East Asia. The diploids appeared over the same general range, except in Turkey, Iran and Georgia where no diploid accessions were found. Hexaploid accessions mainly came from a region comprising the east of Turkey, the north of Iran and Georgia. A selection of 71 accessions, including all three ploidy levels, were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis using six wheat simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. All markers presented high levels of polymorphism, generating 166 different alleles ranging in size between 84 and 256 bp. Based on polymorphic information content values obtained (0.579–0.968), all the SSRs were classified as informative markers (values > 0.5). According to the dendrogram generated, all the A. cristatum accessions were distinctly classified. Diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid accessions are not clearly differentiated from each other on the basis of SSR markers. A field experiment was conducted to morphologically characterize 18 accessions including the three ploidy levels. Significant differences were found between the accessions in spike length, spike width and number of spikelets per spike. All the cytological, molecular, and morphological data demonstrate the high genetic diversity present in A. cristatum, making it a valuable resource for future breeding programs.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Grant AGL2014-52445-R from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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  1. Department of Genetics, ETSIAM, University of Córdoba, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario, CeiA3, 14071, Córdoba, Spain

    Alejandro Copete, Roberto Moreno & Adoración Cabrera

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  1. Alejandro Copete
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  2. Roberto Moreno
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  3. Adoración Cabrera
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Correspondence to Adoración Cabrera.

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Copete, A., Moreno, R. & Cabrera, A. Characterization of a world collection of Agropyron cristatum accessions. Genet Resour Crop Evol 65, 1455–1469 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-018-0630-9

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