Abstract
Ullucus tuberosus (common name ‘ulluco’) is a popular tuber crop of Andean highlands. Until now attention has been focused on ulluco from Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, but little is known about its diversity in Colombia. Thirty-six accessions of cultivated ulluco preserved in the Gene Bank of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia were studied to assess the genetic diversity and spatial genetic structure of Colombian ulluco. We used morphological characters, molecular markers (total proteins, isozymes and RAPDs) and ploidy level. High morphological variability, especially for tuber shape and colour characters, was found. Eight accessions from north-east Colombian Andes showed some typical character-states of wild ulluco, suggesting that they could be partially domesticated forms. Genetic analysis using RAPD markers indicated that these accessions were very similar to other cultivated ullucos belonging to the same region. The regional structure observed in isozyme and RAPD dendrograms was confirmed by AMOVA results (52.6% among-region variation) and the spatial correlogram, showing the presence of two gene pools of ulluco in Colombia. Our results and the accumulated data suggest that ulluco was introduced to Colombia at least two times. Initially, semi-domesticated forms would have come from the central Andes to north-east Colombian Andes, where the native inhabitants would have completed the domestication process. Again, fully domesticated ullucos might have been introduced to south-west Colombian Andes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arbizu C (2004) Clasificación y morfología. In: López G, Hermann M (eds) El cultivo del ulluco en la sierra central del Perú. Serie: Conservación y uso de la biodiversidad de raíces y tubérculos andinos. Centro Internacional de la Papa, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Instituto Vida en los Andes, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Agencia Suiza para el Desarrollo y la Cooperación, Lima, pp 5–11
Barrera V, Espinosa P, Tapia C, Monteros A, Valverde F (2004) Caracterización de las raíces y los tubérculos andinos en la ecoregión andina del Ecuador. In: Barrera V, Tapia C, Monteros A (eds) Raíces y tubérculos andinos: alternativas para la conservación y uso sostenible en el Ecuador. Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Quito; Centro Internacional de la Papa, Lima, pp 3–30
Bianco M, Sachs C (1998) Growing oca, ulluco, and mashua in the Andes: Socioeconomic differences in cropping practices. Agr Hum Values 15:267–280
Brücher H (1967) Ullucus aborigineus spec. nov., die Wildform einer andinen Kulturpflanze. Ber Dtsch Bot Ges 80:376–381
Brücher H (1989) Useful plants of Neotropical origin and their wild relatives. Springer, Berlin
Cadima X (2006) Tubérculos. In: Moraes M, Ollgaard B, Kvist LP, Borchsenius F, Balslev H (eds) Botánica económica de los Andes Centrales. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, pp 347–369
Cadima X, García W, Ramos J (2003) Conservación y producción de la papalisa. Fundación PROINPA, Cochabamba
Cárdenas M (1989) Manual de plantas económica de Bolivia. Los Amigos del Libro, La Paz
Cárdenas M, Hawkes JG (1948) Número de cromosomas de algunas plantas nativas cultivadas por los indios en los Andes. Revista de Agricultura 5:20–23
Conejero V, Semancik JS (1977) Analysis of the proteins in crude extracts by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis. Phytopathology 67:1424–1426
Dice LR (1945) Measure of the amount of ecological association between species. Ecology 26:297–302
Eidt RC (1959) Aboriginal chibcha settlement in Colombia. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 49:374–392
Excoffier L, Smouse PE, Quattro JM (1992) Analysis of molecular variance inferred from metric distance among DNA haplotypes: application to human mitochondrial DNA restriction data. Genetics 131:479–491
Fukui K (1996) Plant chromosomes and mitosis. In: Fukui K, Nakayama S (eds) Plant chromosomes: laboratory methods. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 1–18
Gordon RG (2005) Ethnologue: languages of the world. SIL International, Dallas
Gower JC (1971) A general coefficient of similarity and some of its properties. Biometrics 27:857–871
Gross R, Koch F, Malaga I, de Miranda AF, Schoeneberger H, Trugo LC (1989) Chemical composition and protein quality of some local Andean food sources. Food Chem 34:25–34
Hawkes JG (1989) The domestication of roots and tubers in the American tropics. In: Harris DR, Hillman GC (eds) Foraging and farming: the evolution of plant exploitation. Unwin Hyman, London, pp 481–503
Hodge WH (1951) Three native tubers foods of the high Andes. Econ Bot 5:185–201
Huamán Z, de la Puente F, Arbizu C (1995) Collecting vegetatively propagated crops (especially roots and tubers). In: Guarino L, Ramanatha Rao V, Reid R (eds) Collecting plant genetic diversity. Technical guidelines. CAB International, Wallingford, pp 457–466
Huff DR, Peakall R, Smouse PE (1993) RAPD variation within and among natural populations of outcrossing buffalograss (Buchloë dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.). Theor Appl Genet 86:927–934
IPGRI/CIP (2003) Descriptores del ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus). Instituto Internacional de Recursos Fitogenéticos, Roma; Centro Internacional de la Papa, Lima
King SR, Gershoff S (1987) Nutritional evaluation of three underexploited Andean tubers Oxalis tuberosa (Oxalidaceae), Ullucus tuberosus (Basellaceae) and Tropaeolum tuberosum (Tropaeolaceae). Econ Bot 41:503–511
Langebaek CH (1985) Cuando los muiscas diversificaron la agricultura y crearon el intercambio. Boletín Cultural y Bibliográfico 22:3–10
Langebaek CH (1987) Mercados, poblamiento e integración étnica entre los Muiscas, siglo XVI. Banco de la Repúbica, Bogota
Larkka J, Jokela P, Pietilä L, Viinikka Y (1992) Karyotypes and meiosis of cultivated and wild ulluco. Caryologia 45:229–235
Le Corre V, Roussel G, Zanetto AKA (1998) Geographical structure of gene diversity in Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. III. Patterns of variation identified by geostatistical analyses. Heredity 80:464–473
Lempiäinen T (1989) Germination of the seeds of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus, Basellaceae). Econ Bot 43:456–463
León J (1964) Plantas alimenticias andinas. Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas, Lima
Manchenko GP (1994) Handbook of detection of enzymes on electrophoretic gels. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Méndez ML (1995) Determinación de la ploidía del ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Caldas). M.Sc. dissertation, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina
National Research Council (1989) Ulluco. In: Lost crops of the Incas: Little-known plants of the Andes with promise for worldwilde cultivation. National Academy Press, Washington, pp 104–113
Pachón X (1987a) Guambía. In: Correa F, Pachón X (eds) Introducción a la Colombia Amerindia. Instituto Colombiano de Antropología, Bogota, pp 235–248
Pachón X (1987b) Páez. In: Correa F, Pachón X (eds) Introducción a la Colombia amerindia. Instituto Colombiano de Antropología; Ministerio de Educación Nacional, Bogota, pp 217–233
Parra-Quijano M, Ñústez C, Reyes LM (2005) Collection and conservation of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Caldas) in Colombia. Plant Genet Resour Lett 142:63–67
Patiño VM (1963) Plantas cultivadas y animales domésticos en América equinoccial. Tomo II: Plantas alimenticias. Imprenta Departamental, Cali
Peakall R, Smouse PE (2006) GenAlEx 6: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research. Mol Ecol Notes 6:288–295
Peakall R, Ruibal M, Lindenmayer DB (2003) Spatial autocorrelation analysis offers new insights into gene flow in the Australian bush rat, Rattus fuscipes. Evolution 57:1182–1195
Pietilä L, Jokela P (1988) Cultivation of minor tuber crops in Peru and Bolivia. J Agr Sci Finland 60:87–92
Pietilä L, Jokela P (1990) Seed set of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Loz.). Variation between clones and enhancement of seed production through the application of plant growth regulators. Euphytica 47:139–145
Pietilä L, Jokela P, Salo J (1990) Seed of Ullucus tuberosus—an apomict or not. Euphytica 47:117–120
Podani J (1993) SYN-TAX: Computer programs for multivariate data analysis in ecology and systematics, version 5.0. User’s guide. Scientia Publishing, Budapest
Rohlf FJ (1997) NTSYS-pc. Numerical taxonomy and multivariate analysis system. Applied Biostatistics, Setauket
Rousi A, Yli-Rekola M, Jokela P, Kalliola R, Pitelilä L, Salo J (1988) The fruit of Ullucus (Basellaceae), an old enigma. Taxon 37:71–75
Rousi A, Jokela P, Kalliola R, Pietilä L, Salo J, Yli-Rekola M (1989) Morphological variation among clones of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus, Basellaceae) collected in southern Peru. Econ Bot 43:58–72
Sánchez-Yélamo MD (1992) Isoenzyme electrophoretic studies among some species of the genus Erucastrum and Hirschfeldia incana (Cruciferae: Brassicaceae) with reference to their chemotaxonomic relationships. Biochem Syst Ecol 20:631–637
Smouse PE, Peakall R (1999) Spatial autocorrelation analysis of individual multiallele and multilocus genetic structure. Heredity 82:561–573
Sneath PHA, Sokal RR (1973) The estimation of taxonomic resemblance. In: Sneath PHA, Sokal RR (eds) Numerical taxonomy. W.H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, pp 114–187
Sokal RR, Michener CD (1958) A statistical method for evaluating systematic relationships. Univ Kans Sci Bull 38:1409–1438
Sokal RR, Wartenberg DE (1983) A test of spatial autocorrelation analysis using an isolation-by-distance model. Genetics 105:219–237
Soltis DE, Haufler CH, Darrow DC, Gastony GJ (1983) Starch gel electrophoresis of ferns: a compilation of grinding buffers, gel and electrode buffers, and staining schedules. Am Fern J 73:9–27
Sperling CR (1987) Systematics of the Basellaceae. Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University
Sperling CR (1993) Ullucus tuberosus subsp. aborigineus (Brücher) Sperling. In: Brako L, Zarucchi JL (eds) Catalogue of the flowering plants and gymnosperms of Peru. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, p 1253
Stewart CN, Excoffier L (1996) Assessing population genetic structure and variability with RAPD data: application to Vaccinium macrocarpon (American cranberry). J Evol Biol 9:153–171
Torres AM, Weeden NF, Martín A (1993) Linkage among isozyme, RFLP and RAPD markers in Vicia faba. Theor Appl Genet 85:937–945
Tupac Yupanki A (2004) Almacenamiento. In: López G, Hermann M (eds) El cultivo del ulluco en la sierra central del Perú. Centro Internacional de la Papa, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Instituto Vida en los Andes, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Agencia Suiza para el Desarrollo y la Cooperación, Lima, pp 5–11
Uribe AF (1998) Principales avances en investigación y desarrollo tecnológico por sistemas de producción agrícola. Corpoica cinco años. Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria, Bogota
Urrunaga R (2006) Conocimientos, prácticas e innovaciones asociadas a los parientes silvestres. Instituto de Investigación de la Amazonia Peruana, Iquitos
Acknowledgments
The authors thank C. Ñustez and S. Tinjacá from the Potato Research Group (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Bogotá) and L. M. Reyes for their valuable assistance and cooperation during this work. This research was partially supported by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Parra-Quijano, M., Panda, S., Rodríguez, N. et al. Diversity of Ullucus tuberosus (Basellaceae) in the Colombian Andes and notes on ulluco domestication based on morphological and molecular data. Genet Resour Crop Evol 59, 49–66 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-011-9667-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-011-9667-8