Conservation and genetic characterisation of common bean landraces from Cilento region (southern Italy): high differentiation in spite of low genetic diversity

Abstract

Since its introduction from Central-South America to Italy almost 500 years ago, the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) was largely cultivated across the peninsula in hundreds of different landraces. However, globalisation and technological modernisation of agricultural practices in the last decades promoted the cultivation of few varieties at the expense of traditional and local agro-ecotypes, which have been confined to local markets or have completely disappeared. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity and differentiation in 12 common bean landraces once largely cultivated in the Cilento region (Campania region, southern Italy), and now the object of a recovery program to save them from extinction. The analysis conducted using 13 nuclear microsatellite loci in 140 individuals revealed a high degree of homozygosity within each landrace and a strong genetic differentiation that was reflected in the success in assigning individuals to the source landrace. On the contrary, internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2, analysed in one individual per landrace, were highly similar among common bean landraces but allowed the identification of a cowpea variety (Vigna unguiculata Walp.), a crop largely cultivated in the Old World before the arrival of common bean from Americas. In conclusion, our study highlighted that conservation of landraces is important not only for the cultural and socio-economic value that they have for local communities, but also because the time and conditions in which they have been selected have led to that genetic distinctiveness that is at the basis of many potential agronomical applications and dietary benefits.

DNA Barcoding to Confirm the Morphological Identification of the Coral Trees (Erythrina spp., Fabaceae) in the Ancient Gardens of Naples (Campania, Italy)

“…al. [ 49 ], with the exception of the PCR conditions, which were as follows: initial denaturation at 95 °C for 5 min, followed by 35 denaturation cycles at 95 °C for 45 s, annealing at 55 °C for 45 s, extension at 72 °C for 1 min, and a final extension at 72 °C for 3 min. The raw sequences were analyzed through the Bio Edit software [ 50 ], and the identification of sequence barcodes from the samples was conducted using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST (NCBI, Bethesda, MD, USA); [ 51 ]).…”

Warm Season Grain Legume Landraces From the South of Europe for Germplasm Conservation and Genetic Improvement

“…Cowpea has been largely cultivated in the Old World, where this crop has a high cultural and socio-economic value for local communities ( De Luca et al, 2018 ). Fresh pods of cowpea are consumed in Southern Europe, where a relatively large number of landraces has been developed, giving rise to a wide genotypic and phenotypic diversity among and within landraces ( Lazaridi et al, 2017 ).…”

“…The diversity originated in cowpea along centuries is also important for the tolerance to local stresses that each local variety has developed due to natural selection for adaptation as well as farmer selection for agronomical applications and dietary benefits ( De Luca et al, 2018 ).…”

Life story of Tunisian durum wheat landraces revealed by their genetic and phenotypic diversity

“…Although humans have historically domesticated and cultivated more than 7,000 species, few high-yielding modern varieties from a limited number of these species constitute nowadays most of the world's food resources (Perrings, 2018). This evolution to modern production systems promotes the cultivation of some varieties at the expense of traditional and local crops (De luca & al., 2018) and consequently is responsible of a huge intraspecific genetic erosion (Perrings, 2018;Wallace & al, 2019). Moreover, this steady decline of genetic diversity canalizes the evolution of pests and forces to adopt management practices, e.g.…”