GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF TUSCAN CHESTNUT GERMPLASM: GENETIC AND GENOTYPIC VARIATION AMONG POPULATIONS OF THREE DIFFERENT AREAS

The study was conducted to characterize 131 chestnut plants collected in three different areals of the Tuscany region (Garfagnana, Colline Metallifere, Amiata). The three areals are well separated without continuous chestnut presence.
Molecular analysis was performed with 8 microsatellite markers.
The 131 plants belonged to 39 names, only 1 of which was present in all the tree population while 4 were present in two population.
The results of the fingerprinting showed that identical genotypes were present only within each population.
The final number of genotypes was set to 102, once eliminated homonyms and synonyms.
The three presented populations differed at the genetic level, although the plants of Colline Metallifere and Amiata shared some alleles.
At the genotypic level the three populations differed statistically.
Hence, the populations presented different genetic pools and may represent independent sources of variation in breeding.
For one of the loci a high level of homozygosity was found in all the populations suggesting a possible correlation between this marker and a gene selective against heterozygosis.

I European Congress on Chestnut – Castanea 2009

C. Cantini, A. Autino

Castanea sativa, fingerprinting, autochthonous

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.866.27