Reduction of species in the wild potato Solanum section Petota series Longipedicellata:: AFLP, RAPD and chloroplast SSR data

Species boundaries were assessed with three molecular markers [AFLPs, RAPDs and chloroplast simple sequence repeats (cpSSRs)] for all six species of wild potatoes (Solanum section Petota) assigned to ser. Longipedicellata: Solanum fendleri, S. hjertingii, S. matehualae, S. papita, S. polytrichon and S. stoloniferum. These tetraploid (2n = 4x = 48) species grow in the southeastern United States (S. fendleri) and Mexico (all six species), and a recent morphological analysis supported only three species: (1) S. polytrichon, (2) S. hjertingii (including S. matehualae) and (3) S. stoloniferum (including S. fendleri and S. papita). We analyzed all six species of ser. Longipedicellata (tetraploid) and also analyzed diploids in ser. Bulbocastana, ser. Pinnatisecta, ser. Polyadenia and ser. Tuberosa; tetraploids in ser. Acaulia and hexaploids in ser. Demissa. Concordant with morphological data, AFLP and RAPD results support the synonymy of S. hjertingii and S. matehualae, and completely intermix S. papita and S. fendleri. However, accessions of S. stoloniferum have a tendency to cluster but with exceptions, and S. polytrichon is completely intermixed with S. fendleri and S. papita. The cpSSRs fail to distinguish any of the species in ser. Longipedicellata. Combined morphological and molecular data support only two species in ser. Longipedicellata: S. hjertingii and S. stoloniferum.