Aims of the study: Phreatophyte species of the Prosopis genus are very important to natural ecosystems in Africa, South America and Asia due to their uses as food and seed sources and in agroforestry. In this research, through next-generation sequencing, we sought to search for and develop SSR markers in Prosopis tamarugo, in addition to assessing their transferability to other species in the Strombocarpa section.Area of study: The study was carried out in species of the Strombocarpa section collected in the “Pampa del Tamarugal”, located in the Atacama Desert (Chile); which is considered the driest and oldest desert on Earth.Materials and methods: The next-generation sequencing for the development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) or microsatellite loci for genetic research in P. tamarugo and their transferability in Prosopis burkartii and Prosopis strombulifera was used.Main results: A total of ~90.000 microsatellite loci in P. tamarugo were found, and a set of 43 primer pairs was used for validating SSR locus amplification. We found a large difference in the percentage of amplified SSR markers between species of the Strombocarpa and Algarobia sections.Research highlights: The present study provides for the first time 24 polymorphic SSR markers for species in the Strombocarpa section, which could be a useful tool for estimating genetic structure, developing breeding programs, quantifying genetic diversity and performing population studies.Keywords: Strombocarpa section; Prosopis tamarugo; Atacama Desert; microsatellites; NGS.

Sporadic rains in the Atacama Desert reveal a high biodiversity of plant species that only occur there. One of these rare species is the “Red añañuca” ( Zephyranthes phycelloides ), formerly known as Rhodophiala phycelloides . Many species of Zephyranthes in the Atacama Desert are dangerously threatened, due to massive extraction of bulbs and cutting of flowers. Therefore, studies of the biodiversity of these endemic species, which are essential for their conservation, should be conducted sooner rather than later. There are some chloroplast genomes available for Amaryllidaceae species, however there is no complete chloroplast genome available for any of the species of Zephyranthes subgenus Myostemma . The aim of the present work was to characterize and analyze the chloroplast of Z. phycelloides by NGS sequencing. The chloroplast genome of the Z. phycelloides consists of 158,107 bp, with typical quadripartite structures: a large single copy (LSC, 86,129 bp), a small single copy (SSC, 18,352 bp), and two inverted repeats (IR, 26,813 bp). One hundred thirty-seven genes were identified: 87 coding genes, 8 rRNA, 38 tRNA and 4 pseudogenes. The number of SSRs was 64 in Z. phycelloides and a total of 43 repeats were detected. The phylogenetic analysis of Z. phycelloides shows a distinct subclade with respect to Z. mesochloa . The average nucleotide variability ( Pi ) between Z. phycelloides and Z. mesochloa was of 0.02000, and seven loci with high variability were identified: psbA , trnS GCU -trnG UCC , trnD GUC -trnY GUA , trnL UAA -trnF GAA , rbcL, psbE-petL and ndhG-ndhI . The differences between the species are furthermore confirmed by the high amount of SNPs between these two species. Here, we report for the first time the complete cp genome of one species of the Zephyranthes subgenus Myostemma , which can be used for phylogenetic and population genomic studies.

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The seal of origin can contribute to give greater added value to agricultural products in the market, giving differentiation,positioning, reliability and status.According toINAPI, in order to obtain a seal of origin, the association of the product with its geographical area must be demonstrated. In the following work we use genetic tools to find the association of foods based on chañar (Geoffroea decorticans) with its geographical area. In this way, we intend to provide the first technical background to justify the registration of Denominationof Origen (DO)of foods from chañar made with raw material from the Copiapó Valley. For this we develop a genetic characterization of chañar foods with microsatellite molecular markers (SSR). The results showed that there are exclusive alleles in chañar flours from different localities in northern Chile, being able to discriminate between chañar flours from different locations.