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.

Plants that belong to different genera sometimes may present close morphological similarity and cannot be distinguished phenotypically by non-specialists. The aim of this study was to develop a simple diagnostic PCR for the identification of plants of Sarcocornia and Salicornia and to test this new procedure to identify 82 samples of Sarcocornia neii from coastal and valleys of the Atacama region of Chile. Six primer pairs were designed from ETS sequences of the genera Sarcocornia and Salicornia and evaluated for the identification of both genera. Primers with a mismatch in the 3' nucleotide indicate the site of the SNP. Four primer pairs (SALI2F-2R, SALI3F-4R, SARCO1F-1R and SARCO3F-3R) were selected to develop an efficient and simple diagnostic PCR for the identification of Sarcocornia and Salicornia. The results show that with this method is possible to identify Sarcocornia and Salicornia. This method may be useful as an approach for genetic traceability of conserved products (sea asparagus). This work provides an applicable and efficient method using only DNA, PCR and electrophoresis.

the quality of a dnA isolation method depends, among others, on the target tissue and the metabolites therein. Geoffroea decorticans burkart (chañar) is a species that has nutritional and pharmacological potential. However, an effective method of DNA extraction capable of facilitating population studies and food genetic traceability has not been studied yet. the objective of the present work was to evaluate four methods of DNA extraction from leaves and chañar-based foods. the methods were evaluated based on yield, dnA purity, and molecular markers. the cci-p (ctAb/ chloroform-isoamylalcohol/pellet) method showed the highest yield of dnA obtained from leaves. However, the cpci-sc (ctAb/phenol-chloroform-isoamylalcohol/silica-column) method was the only one that resulted in acceptable dnA quality with both parameters (A260/A280 and A260/A230). the leaf dnA obtained with this method showed a greater amount of fragments with rApd, and an acceptable amount of fragments with issr. on the other hand, the cci-p method showed a higher yield of dnA from arrope de chañar (syrup). However, the cpci-sc method was the only one that had relatively better DNA quality, which allowed the amplification of molecular markers. Regarding chañar flour, the CPCI-SC method showed the highest yield, DNA quality and good amplification with molecular markers. Therefore, the CPCI-SC extraction method is efficient for obtaining DNA from different matrices, and can support studies for a possible designation of origin of chañar-based foods.

The olive variety called Sevillana de Azapa and Sevillana del Huasco was introduced in northern Chile more than 350 years ago by the Spaniards. These olive trees are evidence of an important historical production of olives in the Valleys of Azapa and Huasco. However, the genetic differences of this variety in populations of each valley and between olive trees commonly cultivated in Chile are still unknown. In order to obtain Denomination of Origin (DO) certification for the olive products made from this variety, a more accurate quality control method is required to properly distinguish raw material. Based on the use of ISSR and RAPD markers, the results of this study showed that Sevillana has a high genetic variation within each valley, but also a very low diversity between valleys. The high genetic variation within the population suggests that the individuals originated from vegetative parts of different mother plants, or were propagated by seeds. On the other hand, the populations of centennial trees of the Huasco and Azapa valleys are genetically distinct from the most important olive varieties marketed in the rest of Chile. It can be concluded the ISSR and RAPD markers can be used to characterize the raw material of Huasco olive oil with DO so as to differentiate this oil from other varieties established in the rest of the country.

Introducción y objetivos: Las condiciones extremas en el Desierto de Atacama de Chile son un obstáculo importante para la supervivencia de cualquier organismo. A pesar de esto, varias poblaciones de leguminosas de Geoffroea decorticans han prosperado en este entorno hostil y severo durante siglos. Aquí, tratamos de determinar la variabilidad genética en poblaciones de G. decorticans, dada su amplia distribución a través del Desierto de Atacama, el desierto más seco y antiguo de la Tierra. Los objetivos específicos del presente estudio fueron determinar el nivel de diversidad genética y evaluar la estructura genética en ocho poblaciones de G. decorticans del Desierto de Atacama chileno.M&M: Ochenta y cuatro individuos G. decorticans fueron seleccionados para muestreo en ocho localidades en el norte de Chile. Se utilizaron cinco microsatélites para analizar la diversidad genética, la diferenciación entre poblaciones, la estructura de la población y el flujo de genes.Resultados: La mayoría de las poblaciones analizadas del Desierto de Atacama mostraron una alta diversidad genética, con la excepción de PACH. Las poblaciones de G. decorticans (chañar) también mostraron una alta diferenciación genética y un flujo genético moderado dado por la barrera natural impuesta por el Desierto de Atacama. Las ocho poblaciones de chañar estudiadas se separaron en grupos de las regiones norte y sur.