The objective of this work was to quantify the genetic diversity among cassava folk varieties as well as to examine the distribution of the genetic diversity among varieties of different origin and type. Fifty-four cassava varieties were chosen from 4 Brasilian regions: 45 of the Amazon basin (23 from River Negro, 6 of the River Branco and 16 of the River Solimões) and 9 of the south coast of the São Paulo State, Brazil. The modern variety Mantiqueira was also included as a reference. Among these, 38 were bitter varieties and 17 sweet. Three different types of DNA markers were used: RAPD (randomly amplified polymorphic DNA), AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) and microsatellites. Analysis of the results consisted of a description of band patterns, a calculation of similarity indexes (Nei & Li) and a principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) for each marker type. Heterozygosity, diversity indexes (DI, Weir) and genetic differentiation coefficients (G ST) were calculated for the microsatellite loci.Genetic variability was more concentrated within regions, then among regions (G ST = 0.07). Mean heterozygosity was 56%. Mean similarity indexes were dependent on the marker used: S = 0.89 for RAPD, S = 0.85 for AFLP and S = 0.59 for microsatellites. PCoA analysis revealed groups, distinguishing bitter from sweet varieties.
Manihot esculenta; cassava; marker; genetic diversity