The species known as pimenta-de-macaco (Piper aduncum L.) has great economic explotation potential based on the proved usefulness of the essential oil in agriculture and human health. The genetic diversity of their natural populations was characterized. A total of eighteen accessions of the plant, obtained from four different origins in the Brazilian Amazon, was examined by means of DNA loci, generated by RAPD analysis. Real genetic diversity was observed between the analyzed populations and it appear that the patterns of the genetic diversity follow the patterns of the geographical distribution.
Piper aduncum L.; oil; genetic diversity; DNA; germplasm; domestication
