Preliminary assessment of COSII gene diversity in lulo and a relative species: initial identification of genes potentially associated with domestication.

Among the Solanum genus, Solanum quitoense Lam. (lulo) is a promising species of Neotropical Solanaceae to become a premium crop in international markets. Wild relatives of S. quitoense are a source of desirable characteristics to be exploited for genetic improvement. To enhance the understanding of and access to the genetic diversity in landrace and wild relatives of lulo, we estimated the relative sequence diversity among them and their wild relative Solanum hirtum. With the use of COSII markers, we established that diversity of cultivated lulo (S. quitoense) is significantly lower than that of its wild relative S. hirtum. In the same way, we found that diversity of lulo is similar to that previously reported for tomato, while the diversity of S. hirtum is comparable to that of other wild relatives of cultivated plants. Our results suggest that high variability of some genes associated to abiotic stress response and pathogen resistance has been favored in wild and cultivated lulo plants.