Search ofa wild ancestor of garlic, Allium sativum L.

• Project/Area Number: 13575020
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 海外学術
• Research Field: 園芸・造園学
• Research Institution: Kagoshima University
• Principal Investigator: ETOH Takeomi Kagoshima University, Faculty of Agriculture, Professor, 農学部, 教授 (10041659)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): IWAI Sumio Kagoshima University, Faculty of Agriculture, Professor, 農学部, 教授 (50295276)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2004
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2004)
• Budget Amount: ¥7,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥7,700,000); Fiscal Year 2004: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000); Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000); Fiscal Year 2002: ¥2,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,400,000); Fiscal Year 2001: ¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000)
• Keywords: garlic / an ancestor species / a wild Turkish species / Allium / Allium tuncelianum / RAPD / karyotype / 交雑 / 収集 / トルコの野生種 / 染色体 / トルコ

Research Abstract

In 2001 and 2002, a wild species, Allium tuncelianum, was collected in the eastern Turkey. This species was suggested as a wild ancestor of garlic, A.sativum, by Dr.B.Mathew of Royal Botanic Garden of Kew. This is endemic in Turkey. More plant materials of this species were collected in 2002 than in 2001.
The collected plants were grown in Kagoshima from bulbs, and they were crossed with garlic in 2003 and 2004. Garlic plants were also crossed with this species. Both species did not produce after crossing, though ovaries developed for a while after pollination. On the other hand, this species produced viable seeds by selfing. Therefore, there is little possibility that this species is closely related with garlic.
A phylogenetic tree of A.tuncelianum, garlic, some other Allium species was made by RAPD markers. Two clusters were constructed in the tree. In one cluster, A tuncelianum situated closely to A.macrochaetum. These two and A atroviolaceum belonged to one cluster. Another cluster consisted of garlic and other species. Garlic was very close to A.longicuspis, and it was close to great-headed garlic, a group of A.ampeloprasum. Also from the phylogenetic analysis by RAPD, it was not suggested that garlic is close to A.tuncelianum.
Allium tuncelianum is a new_species classified from A.macrochaetum, which was also collected in Turkey. The karyotypes of these two species resembled each other. Both A.tuncelianum and garlic had 16 chromosomes, but these two had different numbers of SAT-chromosomes. Garlic, moreover, had two characteristic short submedian chromosomes, and its karyotype was a little different from that of A.tuncelianum.
From these results, it is doubtful that A.tuncelianum is a direct wild species of garlic.