Genetic relationships among American species of Prosopis (Leguminosae) based on enzyme markers

BESSEGA C.; SAIDMAN B. O.; VILARDI J. C.

GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Scielo

Lugar: SP, Brasil; Año: 2005 vol. 28 p. 277 - 286

1415-4757

In the present work we analyzed by means of isoenzyme electrophoresis the variability and phenetic relationships among seven American species of genus Prosopis belonging to three different sections: P. argentina (Monilicarpa), P. glandulosa, P. velutina, P. flexuosa, P. ruscifolia, P. kuntzei (Algarobia), and P. reptans (Strombocarpa). The genetic variability in P. argentina, P. reptans, and P. kuntzei was significantly lower than in the rest of species analyzed. The species belonging to different sections are highly differentiated, but the differentiation recorded among species belonging to the section Algarobia does not agree with the expected for a natural group. P. kuntzei is as differentiated from the remaining species of Algarobia as from P. reptans or P. argentina, suggesting that this species might be included in a different section. The series within section Algarobia are not supported by the clusters retrieved in the phenogram based on isoenzymatic data. The results suggest that the two North American species (P. velutina and P. glandulosa) would have originated in different founder events.