Relationship of the genetic diversity of Jatropha curcas in Brazil and worldwide

Abstract

Jatropha curcas L. is a tropical plant that has several important features, such as drought tolerance, ability to reclaim degraded areas, oil that match biodiesel standards and the availability of several co-products. In addition, physic nut is adapted to marginal lands and does not compete with food crops for land. Many countries have conducted investigations to assess the genetic diversity of physic nut using different molecular markers. Some of them showed low genetic diversity in the physic nut germplasm, especially in India and China, but congeneric species in the genus Jatropha will allow the improvement of diversity into physic nut varieties by selective breeding. In Brazil, only two investigations were conducted using ISSR, RAPD and SSR markers to evaluate its genetic diversity. The Brazilian accessions were analyzed in different ways and although the individual diversity was relatively limited, accessions could be grouped according to their geographical area of occurrence and some Brazilian accessions were exclusively shown to have great potential as parents in programs of selective breeding. The proximity of the predicted center of diversity origin of physic nut in Mexico turns Brazilian Northeast region into an interesting area of high value for installation of breeding programs in this country.