Genetic relationships among Brassica napus crops based on SSR markers

Abstract

Brassica napus includes economically important crops such as oilseed rape, rutabaga, and leaf rape. Other vegetable forms of Brassica napus, namely nabicol and couve-nabiça, are grown in northwestern Spain and north of Portugal, respectively, and their leaves are used for human consumption and fodder. The relationship of nabicol with other Brassica napus leafy crops was studied before, but its origin remained unclear. The aims of this work were to study the genetic relationships among nabicol landraces and other B. napus crops based on microsatellites and to relate the genotypic differences with the use of the crop. The relationship among 35 Brassica napus populations representing different crops was studied based on 16 microsatellite markers. An analysis of molecular variance was performed partitioning the total variance into three components. The source of variation resulting from groups was defined considering the main use of the crop and accounted for a smaller percentage of variation than other sources of variation, proving that this division is not real. Populations clustered into seven different clusters using a similarity coefficient of 0.82. No clear association was evident between clusters and the main use of populations, suggesting genetic differences among populations could reflect differences in their origin/breeding or domestication. Spanish nabicol could have originated from a sample of couve-nabiças, and couve-nabiças could be used to improve nabicol landraces, because they have a narrow genetic basis that limits their potential for breeding.