GENETIC VARIABILITY IN ?YERBA MATE? POPULATIONS FROM ARGENTINA AND PARAGUAY

FAY, JESSICA V.; SEIJO, GUILLERMO; PERCUOCO, CECILIA BEATRIZ; MIRETTI, MARCOS; TALAVERA STÉFANI, LILIANA NOELIA; ROJAS, CRISTIAN ANTONIO; ARGÜELLES, CARINA FRANCISCA

Montevideo

Congreso; XVI Congreso Latinoamericano de Genética; 2016

Asociación Latinoamericana de Genética y otros

Ilex paraguariensis A. St. Hil. (Aquifoliaceae family), is a tree of great economic importance in the Southern Cone for its use in the preparation of a popular drink called ?mate?. The species geographical distribution includes southern Brazil, northeast Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where there are only remnants of natural populations. In order to evaluate the genetic variability of the species and assess the significance of the old cultures as a reservoir of variability, 38 samples from three cultivated populations (>80 years) from Paraguay and Argentina and a natural population from Reserva Biosfera Yabotí in Misiones-Argentina were analyzed using Ipg_03 SSR locus. The allelic variants solved in 6% PAGE were in the range of 338-376 bp with a total of 11 alleles identified and a polymorphic Information Content (PIC) of 0.867. Each analyzed population showed at least one exclusive allele. The expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0,520 for the natural Argentinean population, to 0,754 for one Paraguayan cultivated population. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranged from 0,125 to 1. These results suggested the existence of a great genetic variability within the old cultivated populations analyzed. Nevertheless, all sampled populations are currently being assayed at nine additional microsatellite loci.