Molecular genetic diversity of African orphan crops: The case of Ethiopia

1. Molecular Genetic Diversity of African
Orphan Crops: The case of Ethiopia
1
Firew Mekbib, Fikru Mekonnen, Hibistu Desta,
Selamawit Getachew , Tewodros Mulalem, Alemu
Abate and Legesse Tadesse

2. Orphan crops
• Minor
• Local
• Underutilized
• Neglected
• Under researched
• Under funded
2

3. Criteria for Identifying Orphan Crops
 Centre of Origin and/or diversity
 Linkage with the cultural heritage
 Local / traditional crops whose distribution,
biology, cultivation and uses are poorly
documented
 Adaptation to specific agro-ecological niches and
marginal land
 Weak or no formal seed supply systems
 Traditional uses in localized areas
3

4. Cont’d
• Produced in traditional production systems
with little or no external inputs
• Receive little attention from research,
extension services, policy and decision
makers
• May be highly nutritious and/or have
medicinal properties or other multiple uses
4

5. 5
African
Orphan
Crops

6. 6

7. African
Plant
Diversity
Map
7

8. 8
Arable
land for
Orphan
Crops?

9. Ethiopia is Vavilovian centre of origin and
diversity for many crops.
Vavilov, 1951 9

10. In 1927 outstanding Russian geneticist, plant breeder
and geographer Nikolai Vavilov set out for a distant
expedition to Abyssinia where he collected unique
crop seed samples. 10

11. • There are closer to 38 crop species which
are originated in Ethiopia (The Ethiopian
gene center and its genetic diversity. JMM
Engels, JG Hawkes - Plant Genetic Resources
of Ethiopia, 1991 )
• Exploration and collection work have been
done for the last seven decades
• Ex situ and In situ conservation of
accessions amounting to 80,000 accessions.11

12. Ethiopia is endowed with diverse Crop
diversity
1. Altitude:
• -120m (Dallol depression) to 4600 m asl
in Ras Dashen Mt.
2. Annual Rainfall:
0 mm to 3000mm
3. Temperature: 0 to 600c
4. Over 3000 yrs of agri. history 12

13. 13

14. 14
The grand mother of
humanity

15. Paul Gepts.
Biodiversity in
Agriculture: http://www.
cambridge.org/us/knowle
dge/isbn/item6580865
15

16. 16
Can Biotechnology Help to
improve Orphan crops
productivity?

17. 17
What is biotechnology?
Biotechnology consists of a gradient of technologies, ranging from
the long-established and widely used techniques of traditional
biotechnology (for example, food fermentation and biological
control) to novel techniques of modern biotechnology. This includes
the use of new techniques of recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology
(often called genetic engineering), monoclonal antibodies, and new
cell and tissue-culture methods

18. 18
Complexity and costs of plant biotechnologies

19. 19

20. The Ethiopian Orphan Crops
• Cereals
• Food legumes
• Oil crops
• Root Crops
• Tuber Crops
• Spices
• Medicinal Plants
• Stimulant crops
• Tree crops 20

21. Molecular genetic diversity of
Ethiopian Orphan Crops
: case studies:
21

22. Ensete ventricosum Ensete
22
• SSR marker
transferability of
banana to Ensete
• SNP of Ensete

23. 23
Neighbor-joining (NJ) tree of the 188 of Enset (Enset Ventricosum) accessions constructed
with SNP markers

24. Lathyrus sativus Grasspea
24
• Morphological diversity
• Biochemical diversity
• ODAP analysis
• GEI for low ANF
containing genotypes
• SSR assay of diversity
panel

25. 25
Neighbor-joining tree showing genetic relationship among grasspea populations

26. Lens culinaris Lentil
26
• Genetic variability
• Path coefficient analysis
• SSR assay of diversity
panels (119 lentil
genotypes)
• Map lentil rust
resistance genes
• Genetic progress

27. 27

28. 28

29. Lepidium sativum Crested grass
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• Morphological
variability
• Biochemical
(Storage protein)
• Path coefficient
• Oil quality profiling
• SSR diversity of 114
genotypes

30. 30

31. Lupinus albus White lupin
31
• Genetic variability
• Path coefficient
analysis
• Biochemical (alkaloid
and protein)
• GE for yield and yield
components
• SSR assay of diversity
panels (170 accessions

32. 32

33. 33
Dioscorea spp. Yam spp
• Folk biology
• Morphological
diversity
• Biochemical diversity
• Path coefficient
analysis
• SSR diversity (33 yam
landraces with 10 SSR
markers)

34. 34
Genetic diversity within and among 33 yam landraces based
on 10 SSR markers
Locus N As (bp) K Na Ne Ho He FIS PIC
YM02 3.0 237-242 0.471 3.0 2.22 0.71 0.56 -0.29 0.55
YM03 4.0 214-235 0.735 2.0 1.13 0.03 0.12 0.74 0.12
YM05 2.0 155-158 0.735 2.0 1.10 0.10 0.09 -0.05 0.09
YM09 5.0 201-225 0.645 3.0 3.57 0.68 0.73 0.06 0.72
YM12 4.0 221-232 0.657 3.0 2.34 0.70 0.58 -0.22 0.57
YM13 1.0 0-319 0.116 1.0 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
YM15 3.0 491-495 0.793 2.0 1.19 0.03 0.16 0.78 0.16
YM17 4.0 192-211 0.802 3.0 1.41 0.30 0.29 -0.05 0.29
YM18 1.0 0-256 0.280 1.0 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
YM21 3.0 368-373 0.403 2.0 2.14 0.89 0.54 -0.67 0.53
Total 30.0 2079-2746 5.637 22 17.1 3.44 3.07 0.4 3.03
Mean 3.0 207.9-274.6 0.567 2.2 1.71 0.34 0.31 0.04 0.30
SE 0.42 3.47 0.15 0.88 0.27 0.11 0.09 0.16 0.08
Where, N= Total number of alleles per locus, As= Allele size, K= Expected heterozygosity, Na= Number of putative alleles, Ne= Number of
effective alleles per locus, Ho=Observed gene diversity within landraces, He=Average gene diversity within landraces, FIS=Inbreeding
coefficient, PIC= Polymorphic information content and SE= Standard error.

35. 35

36. Conclusions
• Wide genetic diversity has been found on the studied
crops
• Further collections are required in some of the hot
spot
• Integrated Molecular, Biochemical and Morpholgical
assay of diversity panel
• Phenotyping for biotic and abiotic stress
• Downstream MAS for selected traits
• Genome wide association with comprehensive
genotyping and phenotyping work
• Biotechnology is one of the powerful tools for genetic
enhancement of Orphan crops
36

37. Biotechnology for Deorphanization
• Minor
• Local
• Underutilized
• Neglected
• Under researched
• Under funded
• Major
• Wider
• Properly utilized
• Prioritized
• Well researched
• Well funded
37