POPULATION GENOMICS AND PLHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF Euterpe edulis
Nome: FRANCINE ALVES NOGUEIRA DE ALMEIDA
Data de publicação: 17/03/2023
Banca:
Nome |
Papel |
|---|---|
| MARCIA FLORES DA SILVA FERREIRA | Orientador |
Resumo: The Atlantic Forest is one of the five priority global biodiversity hotspots for conservation.
Along its distribution, the vegetation presents different characteristics due to biogeographic
variation. The palm Euterpe edulis Mart., popularly known as Juçara, is a key species in this
biome, with an important ecological role. It is a highly valued food source and is used for a
variety of purposes, including the production of juice, jelly, and cosmetics. Knowledge about
the diversity and genetic structure are important for the management and conservation of this
species and explain the diversity pattern in Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Therefore, this work
intends to understand the evolutionary and historical processes that led to genetic diversity
and the genetic pattern of current distribution of species in this biome. For this purpose, three
types of molecular markers (SNP, Silico-DarT and SSR) were evaluated to estimate the
diversity and genetic structure of E. edulis populations collected along the Atlantic Forest of
Brazil. Making it possible to choose the marker that would best answer our questions. Then,
species distribution models over the last 130,000 years were used to correlate seven
biogeographical variables, related to temperature and precipitation, with genetic
differentiation between populations and species distribution. Thus, it was possible to test
whether there is influence of adaptive selection, geographical distance, and climatic stability
on the genetic pattern of Euterpe edulis populations. Our results suggest that SNP and Silico-
DArT markers are effective for assessing population structure, but SSR are better able to
detect diversity between samples. We show that in addition to genetic drift, natural selection
is also acting on the population structure of E. edulis. Additionally, several SNPs with
selection signals were observed in genes associated with constitutive and adaptive traits.
Ecological niche models show a decline in areas suitable for E. edulis over the last 130,000
years and that the current pattern of genetic diversity of E. edulis is a result of geographic
distance between populations and little related to resistance isolation. In conclusion, this
study is very relevant for E. edulis conservation programs and evolutionary studies of other
species that occur in the Atlantic Forest.
