Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, derived from the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus. Since ancient time saffron has been used as a spice, seasoning, fragrance, drug, dye, and medicine, but the origin and the wild relatives of this flowering plant are unknown. Saffron is a sterile triploid with 2n=3x=24 and there is little known about its diversity (see www.crocusbank.org). This study aimed to analyze the species of the genus Crocus through molecular analysis to find C. sativus candidate ancestors. The significance of this work is to find species inside the genus Crocus to involve in other analyses, including in situ hybridization and more extensive molecular tests. Finally, when parental species are identified, it will be possible to attempt making new hybrids to resynthesize saffron, increasing the diversity in the crop, and allowing comparison of different forms. Here, one nuclear EST-SSR marker was used to analyze 49 accessions from 23 species of Crocus by building phylogenetic trees. Some 179 sequences were obtained, including multiple sequences from single accessions to identify heterozygosity and hybrid origins. The maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees show that C. sativus has only genomes from within species in the series Crocus within the genus, and highlight that, based on this single marker, C. pallassii (or a similar species) could be one of the ancestral species of C. sativus. The data show, first, the modern molecular experimental approaches and methods of analysis that can be used, secondly enable suggestions for materials and numbers of sequences that might be needed for a complete analysis, and thirdly give suggestions about the answers to the ancestry question.
ANALYSIS OF AN EST-SSR TO FIND THE GENOME COMPOSITION AND CANDIDATE ANCESTORS OF SAFFRON, THE STERILE TRIPLOID SPECIES CROCUS SATIVUS
FALISTOCCO, Egizia
2013
Abstract
Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, derived from the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus. Since ancient time saffron has been used as a spice, seasoning, fragrance, drug, dye, and medicine, but the origin and the wild relatives of this flowering plant are unknown. Saffron is a sterile triploid with 2n=3x=24 and there is little known about its diversity (see www.crocusbank.org). This study aimed to analyze the species of the genus Crocus through molecular analysis to find C. sativus candidate ancestors. The significance of this work is to find species inside the genus Crocus to involve in other analyses, including in situ hybridization and more extensive molecular tests. Finally, when parental species are identified, it will be possible to attempt making new hybrids to resynthesize saffron, increasing the diversity in the crop, and allowing comparison of different forms. Here, one nuclear EST-SSR marker was used to analyze 49 accessions from 23 species of Crocus by building phylogenetic trees. Some 179 sequences were obtained, including multiple sequences from single accessions to identify heterozygosity and hybrid origins. The maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees show that C. sativus has only genomes from within species in the series Crocus within the genus, and highlight that, based on this single marker, C. pallassii (or a similar species) could be one of the ancestral species of C. sativus. The data show, first, the modern molecular experimental approaches and methods of analysis that can be used, secondly enable suggestions for materials and numbers of sequences that might be needed for a complete analysis, and thirdly give suggestions about the answers to the ancestry question.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
