Title
Genetic variability of an unusual apomictic triploid cactus - Haageocereus tenuis Ritter - From the Coast of Central Peru
Date Issued
01 January 2013
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Brown University
Abstract
Haageocereus tenuis is a prostrate cactus restricted to a small area of 2 km2 near the city of Lima, Peru. The species is triploid and propagates mainly through stem fragmentation. In addition, propagation via agamospermy is documented and adventitious embryony is also inferred as a mechanism. Although seedling recruitment has not been observed in nature, we have shown that asexually produced seeds are viable. About 45 adult individuals, plus 9 individuals obtained from seeds, were sampled and 5 microsatellite markers were used to assess genetic variability. Microsatellite analysis confirms that individuals from the only existing population are genetically identical and that the population likely represents a single clone. The absence of mutations in any individual, even in highly variable microsatellite loci, may indicate that the species is also of recent origin. Other prostrate species of Haageocereus are suspected to be occasional apomicts. This phenomenon has significant implications for the evolutionary biology and ecology of Haageocereus and other clonal Cactaceae. © 2012 The American Genetic Association. All rights reserved.
Start page
127
End page
133
Volume
104
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de las plantas, Botánica
Genética, Herencia
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84871911489
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Heredity
ISSN of the container
00221503
Sponsor(s)
Funding text
This work was partially funded by Graduate Student Research Grants from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Botanical Society of America, the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, and the National Science Foundation (NSF DEB-0608273).
Sources of information:
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