Identification of cultivated and wild Vaccinium species grown in Portugal

Abstract

Vaccinium crops offer a variety of benefits for human health due their high levels of antioxidants. Genetic diversity between two Vaccinium species (sixteen cultivars of Vaccinium corymbosum and three wild populations of Vaccinium myrtillus) were evaluated using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. In V. corymbosum 74 polymorphic markers corresponding to 83.2% of polymorphism were obtained while in V. myrtillus only four polymorphic markers corresponding to 83.2% and 10.6% of polymorphism were observed. The dendrogram obtained showed a clear division into two distinct groups corresponding to the two analyzed species. V. corymbosum group is divided in different sub-clusters based on cultivars pedigree relationships. Twenty-eight specific bands were detected in total; 6 for V. corymbosum and 22 for V. myrtillus. Results allowed the selection of five primers due it potential to detect specific bands in the two species. These markers could be useful for identifying species and cultivars and consequently help in the management of germplasm collections and in breeding programs.