Taxonomy & food securityTiina Särkinen, Morvah George

& Sandra Knapp

• PBI Solanum project funded by NSF• Family Solanaceae

• Solanum ~ 1500 spp

• Cestrum, Lycianthes ~ 200 spp

• Nolana, Jaltomata ~ 80 spp

• Physalis, Lycium ~ 75 spp

• Nicotiana ~ 70 spp

• Brunfelsia ~ 45 spp

• Capsicum ~ 27 spp

• Tropical Andes: – > 7000 km long and up to 7000 m high

– environmental heterogeneity linked with high diversity

Overview

1. How taxonomy works?

2. Issues in taxonomy:

Case study of Solanum umbelliferum

3. Secondary research• Phylogenetic work• Biome mapping• Conservation assessment• Gap-analysis of tomato

Why do we need taxonomy?

Identification!

Solanum americanum L.

INFORMATION: distribution, ecology, etc…

All biological research is based on taxonomy

Genetics

Ecology

Agriculture

Conservation

Resource management

…

Solanum americanum L.

1. How does taxonomy work?

Taxonomic work process

In herbaria …

Taxonomic work process

Type Descripcion

Other specimens

… in libraries …

Taxonomic work process

2. Issues in taxonomy

Solanum probolospermum

Bitter

IDENTIFYING LIMITS OF NATURAL VARIATION

Taxonomic difficulties• Variation within species = natural variation

• Plants have a diversity of reproductive systems, and some of these can result in complex patterns of morphological variation = problems in species delimitation

– Apomixis (= production of seeds without fertilisation)– Polyploidy (= duplication of the genome)

NATURALVARIATION

NATURALVARIATION

SPECIES 1 SPECIES 2

DISCONTINUOUSVARIATION

SPECIES 1 SPECIES 2

DISCONTINUOUSVARIATION

A species is a hypothesis about the distribution of variation in nature

Solanum umbelliferum Eschsh.

Classification of S. umbelliferum

Geographic and genetic distance Solanum umbelliferum

Morphology with imposed genetic distancePCA

3. Secondary research

Phylogenetic work

• Family level relationships

• Clades within Solanum

• Recent outputs: phylogeny and taxonomic monograph of the cultivated eggplant and its wild relatives (Vorontsova & Knapp, submitted)

Solanum melongena, Solanum aethiopicum, Solanum quitoense, Solanum sessiflorum, Solanum lasiocarpum

Solanum betaceum

Solanum lycopersicum, Solanum tuberosum, Solanum muricatum

Solanum aviculare

Solanum scabrum

N. glutinosaN. undulata

75

81

N. benavidesii

N. knightiana

N. paniculata

N. rustica

N. solanifolia56

60

10064

Pa

nic

ulat

ae

N. linearis

N. attenuata

N. miersii

N. sylvestris

N. tabacum

N. bonariensis

N. langsdorffii

N. alata

N. longiflora

N. plumbaginifolia

N. forgetiana

N. amplexicaulisN. megalosiphon

N. cavicola

N. umbratica

N. rotundifolia

N. simulans

N. benthamiana

N. debneyi

N. fragrans

N. exigua

N. stocktonii

N. repanda

N. nudicaulis

N. quadrivalis

N. obtusifolia

N. otophora

N. tomentosa

N. acaulis

N. petunioides

N. noctiflora

N. glauca

matK

9561

100

6469

78

81

61

86

62

63

9969

100

Sua

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tes

Alatae

Tom

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Rep

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Ala

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N. undulata

N. benavidesii

N. knightiana

N. rustica

N. paniculata

N. solanifolia

N. exigua

N. cavicola

N. rotundifolia

N. debneyi

N. simulans

N. umbratica

N. fragrans

N. longiflora

N. bonariensis

N. alata

N. langsdorffii

N. forgetiana

N. acaulis

N. glauca

N. noctiflora

N. petunioides

N. linearis

N. obtusifolia

N .tabacum

N. otophora

N. tomentosa

N. plumbaginifolia

N. glutinosa

N. stocktonii

N. repanda

N. nudicaulis

N. sylvestris

N. quadrivalvis

N. miersii

N. attenuata

ITS

N. benthamiana

N. amplexicaulis

N. megalosiphon

Sua

veo

lent

es

Acu

min

ata

eR

epa

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e

Alatae

Noc

tiflo

rae

Tom

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Tomentosae Tomentosae

UndulataeUndulatae

Nudicaules

Nudicaules

Trigonophyllae

Trigonophyllae

71

76

9262

62

80

56

72

100

53

7090

100

82

80

100

71

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Fossil dating

• Adding fossil data to the family phylogeny

• Modeling diversification through time using relaxed molecular clock models (BEAST)

• OUTPUT: providing a time axis for studies on

• chromosomal evolution

• character evolution

• crop domestication (in deep time)

Hoorn et al. Science (2010)

Biome mapping

• Using herbarium data to map biome distribution through modelling

• Product: high resolution maps at continental scale

Sarkinen et al. BMC Ecology (2011)

• sgsga

Morrone'sBiogeographic

Map

AmericasBaseMap

WWFEcoregions

Eva et al.Land Cover

Map

EcologicalSystems

Map

Extinction risk in plants

• IUCN categories assessed using geographic range

• Role of ecological specialisation in extinction risk in plants currently unexplored

Extinction risk in plants

• Focus on Peru• Hunt for new populations

of endemic species• Comparison of ecological

and geographic range sizes-> Are narrowly restricted species more ecologically specialised?

Tomato gap analysis

• Long history of CWR use in breeding

• Extensive germplasm collections for nearly all CWR

• Nearly all resistance traits thus far have been introduced from CWR

Recent species discoveries

• Peralta et al. 2005:

Solanum peruvianum s.l. split into four species

• Solanum peruvianum s.s. - coastal• Solanum corneliomulleri - mountains• Solanum huaylasense - Santa valley• Solanum arcanum - Marañon valley

Species Traits introduced Other known traits

Solanum pimpinellifolium Fruit shape and size; broad specturm root nematod resistance and other disease resistance traits

Color and fruit quality; Drought & general abiotic stress tolerance; Leaf mold resistance; salt tolerance

Solanum cheesmaniae Black mold resistance, introduction of the jointless pedicel gene 

Fruit qualities; Salt and drought tolerance; Viral pathogen and lepidoptera resistance

Solanum galapagense Salt tolerance Salt tolerance

Solanum corneliomulleri    

Solanum pennellii Resistance to bacterial spot, fungal diseases, soil borne diseases, insect resistance, salt tolerance,

Drought & insect pest resistance; salt tolerance;

Solanum habrochaites Yield improvement, fruit quality, resistance to insect predators, alfa-alfa mosaic virus, potyviruses, bacterial canker, tomato leaf mold, tomato yellow leaf curl virus and tomato mosaic virus

Cold and frost tolerance; Resistance to red spider mites, general insect resistance, bacteria speck, root know nematode, fungal pathogens, viruses

Solanum chilense Broad spectrum disease resistance (bacterial, fungal, viral; root knot nematodes; parasitic plants)

Drought tolerance; fruit quality (soluable solid content, firmness and viscosity)

Solanum huaylasense    

Solanum peruvianum Resistance to tobacco mosaic virus, tomato spotted wilt virus, tomato yellow leaf curl virus, and corky root rot

Drought resistance; Resistence to early blight, leaf mould, fusarium wilt, septoria leaf spot, bacterial wilt, tobacco mosaic virus, root know nematodes, potato aphids, tomato leaf curl virus

Solanum arcanum Cold resistance, resistance to bacterial and fungal diseases, heat stable root nematode resistance

Drought tolerance; Resistance to powdery mildew

Solanum chmielewskii Fruit sugar content Flowering time; leaf number per node

Solanum neorickii Inflorescences density Drought resistance; fruit quality

Solanum lycopersicoides Cold, pest and pathogen resistance Extreme abiotic stress tolerance

Solanum sitiens   Drought tolerance

Solanum juglandifolium   Cold and frost tolerance

Solanum ochranthum   Cold and frost tolerance

Herbarium collections Germplasm collections

36% of the estimated undescribed plant species are in Tropical Andes!

This translates to 7872 plant species waiting to be discovered in the Andes, most of which are in Peru and

Ecuador

Thank you!

Kew Bibliographic Database http://kbd.kew.org/kbd/searchpage.do

Taxonomic outputs