Molecular Characterization and Population Structure of the Macaw Palm, Acrocomia aculeata (Arecaceae), Ex Situ Germplasm Collection Using Microsatellites Markers

Abstract

The Acrocomia aculeata is one of the most promising plants for sustainable production of renewable energy. In order to understand patterns of the distribution of the allelic diversity of A. aculeata ex situ germplasm collection, the present study investigated the hypothesis that the genetic variability of the accessions may match their geographical origin. A genotypic analysis of 77 A. aculeata accessions was conducted with 6 simple sequence repeat markers. A high degree of molecular diversity among the accessions was found, with an average of 9 alleles per locus and a polymorphic information content with a mean of 0.76. A total of 4 clusters was identified by the Bayesian analysis of population structure. The highest subpopulation diversity was identified in Pop1, mainly formed by accessions from State of Mato Grosso do Sul. The populations Pop2A, Pop2B, and Pop2C, all from the State of Minas Gerais, showed high genetic variability as determined by a higher F st, and a wide genetic variance, which were identified within and among the population by analysis of molecular variance. Based on our results and on Vavilov's theory on crop origins, one possible diversity center for A. aculeata is proposed to be in a region in southeast Brazil.

Research Article Population genetic structure of three species in the genus Astrocaryum G. Mey. (Arecaceae).

“…The percentage of polymorphic loci found for the three Astrocaryum species was lower than that reported in other studies involving other palm species and using SSR (Conte et al, 2008;Elshibli and Korpelainen, 2008;Choo et al, 2010;Namoff et al, 2011;Ottewell et al, 2012;Giovino et al, 2014;Lanes et al, 2015;Nazareno and dos Reis, 2014). An extremely low value of polymorphism (6.17%) was reported for Livistona carinensis, an endangered palm species (Shapcott et al, 2009).…”

Breeding of Acrocomia aculeata using genetic diversity parameters and correlations to select accessions based on vegetative, phenological, and reproductive characteristics

“…Even with the high similarity among the genotypes collected in Minas Gerais, two stood out, forming a separate group (G2), where both were collected in different and specific regions of Minas Gerais as compared with the other accessions (Table 1). Oliveira et al (2012) and Lanes et al (2015) also reported that subpopulations exist among A. aculeata accessions collected in the Minas Gerais region, based on molecular markers, strengthening the existence of genetic diversity among accessions collected in this region. Manfio et al (2012) found a good correlation among geographic collection sites and genetic divergence of A. aculeata genotypes for juvenile traits in cluster analysis.…”

“…(Arecaceae), stands out as a promising genetic resource in the biofuel sector. It is a native and rustic palm tree, with great potential for oil production and is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical Americas, with Brazil being a center of origin (Lanes et al, 2015). These features make the macaw palm a major national genetic resource that can be managed for biofuel industries.…”

High-density 3D pyramid-shaped microelectrode arrays for brain-machine interface applications

“…Neural interface devices are implanted chronically onto the visual cortex of a blind patient to electrical stimulation to restore the vision. Cochlear implant is the most successful biomimetic device which is already in commercial use [83]. The relative complexity of visual system and intracortical implant presents challenges to researchers attempting visual prostheses.…”