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Title: Ex situ conservation priorities for the wild relatives of potato (Solanum L. section Petota)

Author
item CASTANEDA-ALVEREZ, NORA - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item DE HAAN, STEF - International Potato Center
item JUAREZ, HENRY - International Potato Center
item KHOURY, COLIN - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item ACHICANOY, HAROLD - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item SOSA, CHRYSTIAN - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item BERNAU, VIVIAN - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item SALAS, ALBERTO - International Potato Center
item HEIDER, BETTINA - International Potato Center
item SIMON, REINHARD - International Potato Center
item MAXTED, NIGEL - University Of Birmingham
item Spooner, David

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/5/2015
Publication Date: 4/29/2015
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/60826
Citation: Castaneda-Alverez, N.P., de Haan, S., Juarez, H., Khoury, C.K., Achicanoy, H.A., Sosa, C.C., Bernau, V., Salas, A., Heider, B., Simon, R., Maxted, N., Spooner, D.M. 2015. Ex situ conservation priorities for the wild relatives of potato (Solanum L. section Petota). PLoS One. 10(4): e0122599. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0122599.

Interpretive Summary: Gap analysis refers to the use of a variety of statistical and analytical tools to identify gaps in germplasm collections. This paper used gap analysis to set priorities for future collections and conservation of wild potato species. We conducted a gap analysis for 73 species of wild potato. Our starting database was 49,164 locality records of wild potato. Our results showed 32 of the 73 wild potato species to have high priority for germplasm collection and conservation in genebanks. A total of 20 and 18 species were earmarked as medium and low priority species respectively. Only three species require no further conservation. Peru is the top rated country with 65.6% of the high priority species in its territory. Priority levels for future collections are suggested: (i) first, for species without active accessions in genebanks, (ii) second, for high priority species, (iii) third, for medium priority species and targeted regions predicted to contain considerable numbers of high priority species. Gap analysis, followed by the study of natural genetic variability in populations, and systematic monitoring of the population genetics of wild potatoes can further enrich our understanding of the conservation status of the wild relatives of cultivated potato. This will benefit all phases of genebank operations from collection to maintenance, as well as aid potato breeders by helping to collect a more representative sample for their use of wild species in their potato breeding work

Technical Abstract: We analyzed the contemporary ex situ conservation coverage of the wild relatives of cultivated potato (Solanum section Petota) to set priorities and guide future collections and conservation. We conducted a gap analysis for 73 taxa involving seven, 63 and three species from the primary, secondary and tertiary gene pool of potato respectively. The analysis was based using 49,164 records, where 11,100 correspond to germplasm accessions and 37,251 to herbarium and other types of records. Environmental niche modelling was used to estimate the niche breadth of each species while gap analysis was used to assess the current ex situ conservation status of the wild relatives involving three different quantitative metrics for priority setting: sampling, geographic, and ecosystem representativeness scores. A total of 32 species, representing 43.8% of all the species examined, are high priority species that are currently underrepresented in global genebank collections. A total of 20 and 18 species were earmarked as medium and low priority species respectively. Only three species require no further conservation. Peru is the top rated country with 65.6% of the high priority species in its territory. Priority levels for future collections are suggested: (i) first, for species without active accessions in genebanks, (ii) second, for high priority species, (iii) third, for medium priority species and targeted regions predicted to contain considerable numbers of high priority species. Genomic and morphological marker-based gap analysis, the study of natural variability in populations, and systematic monitoring of the population genetics of wild potatoes in light of climate change can further enrich our understanding of the conservation status of the wild relatives of cultivated potato.