title: Genetic variation of a global germplasm collection of chickpea (Cicer arietinumL.) including Italian accessions at risk of genetic erosion.
abstract: Chickpea (Cicer arietinumL.) is one of the most important legumes worldwide. We addressed this study to the genetic characterization of a germplasm collection from main chickpea growing countries. Several Italian traditional landraces at risk of genetic erosion were included in the analysis. Twenty-two simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, widely used to explore genetic variation in plants, were selected and yielded 218 different alleles. Structure analysis and hierarchical clustering indicated that a model with three distinct subpopulations best fits the data. The composition of two subpopulations, named K1 and K2, broadly reflects the commercial classification of chickpea in the two typesdesiandkabuli, respectively. The third subpopulation (K3) is composed by bothdesiandkabuligenotypes. Italian accessions group both in K2 and K3. Interestingly, this study highlights genetic distance betweendesigenotypes cultivated in Asia and Ethiopia, which respectively represent the chickpea primary and the secondary centres of diversity. Moreover, Europeandesiare closer to the Ethiopian gene pool. Overall, this study will be of importance for chickpea conservation genetics and breeding, which is limited by the poor characterization of germplasm collection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Giovanni
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavan
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Taranto
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Rienzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Miazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Marcotrigiano
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mangini
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Montemurro
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science, University of Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71100 Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lotti
keywords: Chickpea; Genetic diversity; Population structure; SSR