Genetic diversity and phylogeography of annatto (Bixa orellana L.) from Brazilian Amazon

• Grant number: 16/05912-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2016
• End date: November 01, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Ann Veasey
• Grantee: Gabriel Dequigiovanni
• Supervisor: Paul Gepts
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/08884-5 - Genetic structure and mating system of annatto (Bixa orellana L.) populations from the Brazilian Amazon and Central Brazil using microsatellite markers, BP.DR

Abstract

Annatto (Bixa orellana L.) is a tropical crop indigenous to America, probably to the Amazon region. This species is receiving great attention due to the natural red dye extracted from its seeds used in the pharmaceutical, textile, dairy, food, beverage, paints and cosmetics industries. Despite its growing economic importance, the conservation and manipulation of annatto genetic resources represent the main and most difficult goal for this crop. Brazil hosts the greatest diversity for this species. Therefore, characterizing this diversity is a priority in order to promote the conservation of genotypes, as well as to provide information for breeding programs. In this sense, the main aim of this project is to characterize the level and distribution of genetic diversity of Brazilian annatto accessions collected along the main river basins in the Brazilian Amazonia using different approaches, in order to detect possible centers of diversity or domestication of the species, as well as checking the dispersion processes of annatto in Brazil. We will study 946 local varieties and also 170 accessions of wild populations of annatto collected in home gardens of riverside communities along Brazilian Amazônia using microsatellite markers. We will also evaluate phylogeographic patterns analyzing chloroplast DNA sequences from cultivated and wild annatto. SNPs markers will be detected using ddRAD technique to evaluate genomic structure and diversity. Performing Ecological Niche Modeling we will evaluate the dynamics of the spatial distribution of the five species from the Bixa genus. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DEQUIGIOVANNI, GABRIEL; FERREYRA RAMOS, SANTIAGO LINORIO; ALVES-PEREIRA, ALESSANDRO; FABRI, ELIANE GOMES; PICANCO-RODRIGUES, DORIANE; CLEMENT, CHARLES ROLAND; GEPTS, PAUL; VEASEY, ELIZABETH ANN. Highly structured genetic diversity of Bixa orellana var. urucurana, the wild ancestor of annatto, in Brazilian Amazonia. PLoS One, v. 13, n. 6, JUN 6 2018. (15/26837-0, 12/08307-5, 16/05912-6, 13/08884-5)