Genetic diversity of wild and cultivated Rubus species in Colombia using AFLP and SSR markers
Marta Leonor Marulanda, Ana María López, and Sandra Bibiana Aguilar
The Andean blackberry belongs to the genus Rubus, the largest of the Rosaceae family and one of the most diverse of the plant kingdom. In Colombia Rubus glaucus Benth, known as the Andean raspberry or blackberry, is one of the nine edible of the genus out of forty-four reported species. In this study wild and cultivated genotypes, collected in the Central Andes of Colombia were analyzed by AFLP and SSR markers. Sexual reproduction seems to play an important role in maintaining the genetic variability in R. glaucus, and the viability of using the SSR of Rubus alceifolius to characterize Colombian Rubus species was clearly demonstrated. All species evaluated produced very specific banding patterns, differentiating them from the others. Both AFLP and SSR produced bands exclusive to each of the following species: R. robustus, R. urticifolius, R. glaucus, and R. rosifolius. The SSR markers differentiated diploid and tetraploid genotypes of R. glaucus.