To get a feel for what its about, here’s the abstract:
To date, 27 polymorphic microsatellite markers have been developed for assessing the diversity of cultivated taro, Colocasia esculenta L. Schott, populations in Southeast Asia and Oceania, for the purposes of enhancing cultivation, particularly in regards to disease resistance. This study evaluates the efficacy of these markers for archaeogenetic studies on the domestication, development, and dispersal of taro in Oceania.
Here, microsatellite markers are used to evaluate genetic diversity and reproductive strategy in a wild-type C. esculenta population from Queensland, Australia. Microsatellite polymorphisms revealed that genetic diversity and reproductive strategy varied across the population due to variations in microclimates.
The ability of microsatellite markers to detect polymorphisms and meaningful genetic variation across the Australian taro patch studied, as well as between the Australia population and a set of samples from Papua New Guinea, demonstrate the capability of microsatellite markers to reveal information about diversity and relatedness in archaeogenetic studies. The findings here suggest that microsatellite markers have the potential to address outstanding questions about the domestication and dispersal of taro in Oceania and, in turn, about early agriculture in the region.
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| Cultivated taro from the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens, Hawaii. Morphological variation (which reflects some, but not all, genetic variation) can be seen in the purple/red petioles on the left and the green ones on the right. Image provided by Forest & Kim Starr via a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
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| Microsatellite polymorphism at a single locus in two heterozygous individuals. |
We’re hoping to turn it into an article for publication, so stay tuned for updates on that!
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