To Örebro University

Among the Solanum genus, Solanum quitoense Lam. (lulo) is a promising species of Neotropical Solanaceae tobecome a premium crop in international markets. Wild relatives of S. quitoense are a source of desirablecharacteristics to be exploited for genetic improvement. To enhance the understanding of and access to thegenetic diversity in landrace and wild relatives of lulo, we estimated the relative sequence diversity amongthem and their wild relative Solanum hirtum. With the use of COSII markers, we established that diversity ofcultivated lulo (S. quitoense) is significantly lower than that of its wild relative S. hirtum. In the same way, wefound that diversity of lulo is similar to that previously reported for tomato, while the diversity of S. hirtum iscomparable to that of other wild relatives of cultivated plants. Our results suggest that high variability ofsome genes associated to abiotic stress response and pathogen resistance has been favored in wild andcultivated lulo plants.