Genetic diversity and population structure of native maize populations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

ABSTRACT: This study describes the genetic diversity and population structure of 194 native maize populations from 23 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The germplasm, representing 131 distinct landraces, was genetically characterized as population bulks using 28 SSR markers. Three main groups of maize germplasm were identified. The first, the Mexico and Southern Andes group, highlights the Pre-Columbian and modern exchange of germplasm between North and South America. The second group, Mesoamerica lowland, supports the hypothesis that two separate human migration events could have contributed to Caribbean maize germplasm. The third, the Andean group, displayed early introduction of maize into the Andes, with little mixing since then, other than a regional interchange zone active in the p

SUBMITTER: Bedoya CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5389613 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature