The knowledge of population structure and genetic diversity of wild relatives of rice is needed to investigate their evolutionary history and potential use in breeding programs. Very little is known about the wild rice species (Oryza spp.), particularly those that are native to South America. A study using isozyme and RAPD markers was conducted to estimate the level of genetic diversity of four South American wild rice populations (Oryza glumaepatula) recently collected in the Amazon forest and western Brazil rivers. F‐statistics and genetic diversity parameters calculated from isozyme and RAPD markers indicated high values for inbreeding coefficients and differentiation among the four populations. In agreement with this, a pattern of greater variation between than within populations was observed with both types of markers. These findings were corroborated by an AMOVA analysis, which indicated that a large portion of the total genetic variation was attributed to regional divergence. The partition of the AMOVA analysis among populations showed that most of the genetic diversity was due to differences among populations. This distribution pattern of genetic variation of O. glumaepatula populations is in agreement with the expectation for an autogamous species and provides important baseline data for conservation and collection strategies for this species.

Efforts to develop molecular tools for genetic analysis and breeding of common bean in the tropics are still limited. The number of microsatellite markers available for the crop is small compared to other crops of similar social and economic importance. As part of a project to broaden the use of molecular tools in bean breeding, a genomic library enriched for AG/TC repeat sequences was constructed for Phaseolus vulgaris. Twenty microsatellite markers were initially developed and 10 were characterized using a panel of 85 representative accessions of the bean gene bank. The number of alleles per marker ranged from three to 10. The polymorphism information content (PIC) varied from 0.23 to 0.80. The results indicate that the new markers can be readily used in genetically analysis of common bean.

A sample of American wild rice and other accessions of the genus Oryza were studied at polymorphic regions of nuclear, mitochondrial, and chloroplastic genomes. First, flow cytometry, genome-specific RAPD markers, and chromosome counting were utilized to verify the original ploidy and classification of 230 accessions studied. Based on these methods, 8% of the accessions were considered to be misclassified either taxonomically or as a result of contamination. Second, a fine resolution analysis was conducted at genomic regions sampled at random by RAPD markers and at specific sites of the chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA by cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) analysis. Phylogenetic trees resulting from phenetic and cladistic analyses of RAPD, cpDNA, and mtDNA polymorphisms were obtained. The results indicated that the American diploid species O. glumaepatula should be considered an individual species, distinct from O. rufipogon, and confirmed that the American tetraploid species (O. alta, O. grandiglumis, and O. latifolia) belong to the O. officinalis complex. The data indicate that these species should still be treated as a group rather than as three distinct species and that their closest relative is a CC-genome species. It was estimated that the diploid and tetraploid American species diverged from O. sativa - O. nivara (AA genome) and CC- and BBCC-genome species, respectively, 20 million years ago.

ABSTRACT. Capsicum chinense and C. frutescens peppers are part of the Brazilian biodiversity, and the Amazon basin is the area of greatest diversity for them, especially for that former species. Nevertheless, little is known about their evolutionary history. Aiming to identify genotypes with wild and domesticated characteristics, 30 accessions of the germplasm bank of Embrapa were characterized using morphological descriptors and ISSR molecular markers. Of the 72 primers tested, 42% showed amplification and produced 136 amplicons with some of the primers, namely i7Pv and i57Zm, allowing the identification of each species. ISSR also revealed polymorphisms within a species, especially between domesticated and wild forms. Four wild accessions collected in the Amazon region (CNPH 4315, CNPH 4372, CNPH 4337 and CNPH 4325B) popularly known as "olho-de-peixe" or "olho-de periquito" were molecularly classified as C. chinense and showed fruit with similar characteristics as the wild species: upright position, rounded to campanulate shape, small size (1.0 cm long and 0.8 cm wide), average weight of 0.2 g, dark-red color when ripe, easy detachment of calyx and presence of calyx annular constriction (discriminative of C. chinense). The wild form CNPH 4353 known as "malaguetinha" was morphologically and molecularly classified as C. frutescens, demonstrating a more preserved morphology in C. frutescens than in C. chinense. A significant correlation was found between morphological and molecular characterization, and the combination of the two analyses was effective in identifying and classifying the wild forms and contributing to evolutionary studies in the genus.

Restricted gene dispersion -resulting from both self-pollination and limited capability of pollen migration, as well as seed dispersion at short distances -has been considered the main reason for spatial genetic structuring in plant populations. This study evaluated the intrapopulation genetic structure and the mating system in four populations of Solanum lycocarpum, a woody bush occurring in Brazilian Cerrado vegetation. Two hundred and twenty-four individuals were genotyped through five nuclear SSR loci (30 alleles) and six cpSSR loci (82 haplotypes). The study evidenced that the species mates predominantly by outcrossings ðt m $ 1:00Þ, that biparental inbreeding is not common, and that there are almost 10 trees participating as pollen donors per mother-tree. The populations were formed by many mother lineages, indicating efficient seed dispersion by the fauna and the occurrence of multiple foundation events. Spatial genetic structure was observed in three populations (average Sp=0.0184 ± 0.0030) and it resulted from both restricted seed dispersion and from vegetative reproduction. During the collection of seeds for ex situ conservation, seeds must be gathered from 150 to 200 mother trees, so that the effective size of 500 individuals is retained. The sampling must comprise the biggest possible number of populations in a wide area to enable the maintenance of the biggest possible haplotypic diversity.