Evolution of species revealed through sequence analyses of the gene family.

The diversity of 11 fatty acid desaturase () genes has not been investigated between cultivated and wild species in the genus. In this study, 17 accessions and 28 accessions from other species were subjected to sequence analyses of this gene family. Results showed that among these genes, - had a major role in the conversion of oleic acid to linoleic acid. Grouping of all studied wild polyploid species and the wild diploid suggested that transferred its - gene to and . A phylogenetic tree based on - gene sequences also showed that and grouped with individuals, suggesting that is closely related to both wild species. A one base pair deletion at position 604 in the - gene coding region correlated with high levels of oleic acid content in five mutant phenotypes of the evaluated accessions. Grouping of - and - (-) indicated that both of these genes are involved in oleate desaturases activity. The - (-) and - had the highest sequence similarity among the other genes, indicating the conservative nature of these two genes among all the studied species. Our results suggest that is the likely progenitor of and (Synonym ). Also, is genetically closer to but the involvement of cannot be excluded and, this requires further investigation.