TITLE:
Biodiversity Assessment of Sugar Beet Species and Its Wild Relatives: Linking Ecological Data with New Genetic Approaches
AUTHORS:
Filipa Monteiro, Maria M. Romeiras, Dora Batista, Maria Cristina Duarte
KEYWORDS:
Crop Wild Relatives; Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima; Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs); Western Mediterranean Region; EcoTILLING
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.4 No.8A,
August
15,
2013
ABSTRACT: The value of
crop wild relatives has long been acknowledged and this wild resource has been
used to improve crop performance with clear economic benefits. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris) is the most economically valuable crop species in the
order Caryophyllales, B. vulgaris subsp. maritima being the ancestor of the
cultivated beets. The wild species of the genus Beta s.l. are commonly
found in coastal areas of Europe and Mediterranean Region, where a rich genetic
heritage still exists. Broadening the genetic base of sugar beet by
introgression with wild relatives is a growing need regarding the maintenance
of ecologically important traits. Since wild relatives have adapted to specific
habitats, they constitute an important source of novel traits for the beet
breeding pool. So, we conducted a broader research project aiming to
delimit taxa and identify priority locations to establish genetic reserves of
the wild Beta species occurring in
Portugal (Western Iberian Peninsula). The aim of this study was: 1) to identify and
characterize the main habitats of these wild Beta species; and 2) to present a review of some genetic tools
available for future application in sugar beet breeding. In this review, we
have focused on EcoTILLING as a molecular tool to assess DNA polymerphisms in
wild populations of Beta and identify
candidate genes related to drought and salt tolerance, as well as addressed some
issues related to next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies as a new
molecular tool to assess adaptive genetic variation on the wild
relatives of sugar beet.