Mating biology, nuclear DNA content and genetic diversity in spider plant (Cleome gynandra) germplasm from various African countries

authored by

Emmanuel O. Omondi, Thomas Debener, Marcus Linde, Mary Abukutsa-Onyango, Fekadu F. Dinssa, Traud Winkelmann

Abstract

Cleome gynandra (L.) Briq. is an African leafy vegetable with a potential to improve food security and micronutrient deficiencies. Cytological traits, breeding biology and genetic diversity of 30 selected entries of C. gynandra from six African countries were investigated. The entries consisted of advanced lines, gene bank accessions and farmers’ cultivars. Our study revealed chromosome numbers of 2n = 34 in root tip metaphase cells from one entry. The 30 entries were found to be diploid with genome sizes ranging from 2.31 to 2.45 pg/2C. Hand pollination experiments were carried out to assess self-incompatibility within the entries and revealed that they are self- and cross-compatible. For genetic diversity studies within and among the entries, the pooled data of 499 polymorphic bands from 11 amplified fragment length polymorphism primer combinations and nine simple sequence repeat markers were used. The genetic distance among the entries ranged from 0.13 to 0.77. In a principal coordinate analysis, the farmers’ cultivars formed a cluster separate from the advanced lines and the gene bank entries, and the latter were not well resolved.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Plant Genetics
Institute of Horticultural Production Systems

External Organisation(s)

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
World Vegetable Center

Type

Article

Journal

Plant Breeding

Volume

136

Pages

578-589

No. of pages

12

ISSN

0179-9541

Publication date

08.2017

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Agronomy and Crop Science, Genetics, Plant Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12485 (Access: Closed)