A morphological study of species boundaries of the wild potato Solanum brevicaule complex: replicated field trials in Peru

ALVAREZ N.; PERALTA I. E.; SALAS A.; SPOONER D. M.

PLANT SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION

SPRINGER WIEN

Lugar: Viena, Austria; Año: 2008 vol. 274 p. 37 - 45

0378-2697

Solanum brevicaule includes diploids, tetraploids and hexaploids, distributed from central Peru south to northwestern Argentina. The complex is defined entirely by morphological similarity of its constituent members, which are very similar to each other and to some landraces of the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum. Conflicting taxonomic treatments are common among authors. Species boundaries within the complex have been studied with morphological phenetics from germplasm accessions planted in a field plot in the north central US, and with molecular marker data from RAPDs, low-copy nuclear RFLPs, and AFLPs. The present study compares these results with an additional replicated morphological study of the same germplasm accessions in a greenhouse environment in the high Andes of central Peru. The results support extensive reduction of species in the complex. Solanum brevicaule complex contains about 20 species of diploids, tetraploids and hexaploids , distributed from central Peru south to northwestern Argentina. The complex is defined entirely by morphological similarity of its constituent members, which are very similar to each other and to some landraces of the cultivated potato. Conflicting taxonomic treatments are common among authors. Species boundaries within the complex have been studied with morphological phenetics from germplasm accessions planted in a field plot in the north central US, and with molecular marker data from RAPDs, low-copy nuclear RFLPs, and AFLPs. The present study compares these results with an additional replicated morphological study of the same germplasm accessions in a greenhouse environment in the high Andes of central Peru. The results support extensive reduction of species in the complex.