Molecular marker based taxonomy and phylogeny of Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata–D.cayenensis)

Four different molecular techniques were used to assess relationships among 21 accessions of Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata and Dioscorea cayenensis) and 21 accessions belonging to seven putative progenitor species. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and microsatellite-primed PCR (MP-PCR) analysis yielded 246 informative characters that were transformed into a matrix of pairwise distances and analyzed by neighbor joining or split decomposition. Both methods gave congruent results. Well-separated groups were formed that corresponded to their species designation. Dioscorea rotundata and D. cayenensis accessions were clearly separated from each other, supporting the concept that both are distinct species. Two morphological intermediates grouped together with D. rotundata. All investigated species fell into two main clusters, one comprising D. rotundata, D. cayenensis, Dioscorea abyssinica, Dioscorea liebrechtsiana, and Dioscorea praehensilis, the other comprising Dioscorea smilacifolia, Dioscorea minutiflora, Dioscorea burkilliana, and Dioscorea togoensis. The same grouping was also obtained by comparative sequence analysis of chloroplast DNA, which supports earlier studies of nuclear rDNA variation and chloroplast restriction fragment length polymorphisms. We also analyzed the same set of Dioscorea samples with the recently developed random amplified microsatellite polymorphism (RAMPO) technique. A series of diagnostic RAMPO bands was identified that clearly distinguished between D. rotundata and D. cayenensis. Some of these bands could also be traced back to the putative progenitors of both species. The evolutionary origin of Guinea yam is discussed in light of the present results.