Format: ORAL

Guilherme Roxo1, Mark Carine2, Ann Mc Cartney3, Elisabete Dias1, Amlia Vaz1, Pedro Talhinhas4, Maria Manuel Romeiras2, Rubn M. C. Rego1, Christian Zidorn5, Lus Silva1, Mnica Moura1

1University of Azores, School of Sciences and Technology, Rua Mãe de Deus 58, Apartado 1422, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Portugal 2The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK 3Genome Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA 4nstituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal 5Pharmazeutisches Institut - Abteilung Pharmazeutische Biologie Christian - Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel Gutenbergstraße 76 - 24118 Kiel, Deutschland

The genus Daucus L. contains approximately 45 species, the majority of which are found in the Mediterranean region. The Daucus carota complex includes ca. 25 infraspecific taxa, for which there are no or only poorly developed barriers to interbreeding between the wild and domesticated forms. In the Azores archipelago two sub-species occur: the endemic Daucus carota subsp. azoricus Franco, and the native Daucus carota subsp. maritimus (Lam.) Batt. Due to the phenotypic diversity observed across the Daucus carota complex, the distribution and diagnostic morphological characters of the endemic Azorean species remain unclear. This study aims to clarify the taxonomy of the Daucus carota complex in the Azores and determine if the Daucus carota subsp. azoricus Franco is in fact a distinct taxon. For this purpose, we used molecular, cytogenomic, morphological and ecological data. A total of forty-four specimens of Daucus carota subsp. azoricus were sampled across the nine islands of the archipelago and the ITS region and the COS region (CA7) sequenced. Estimations of DNA content were performed with flow cytometry to investigate variation between taxa (i.e., Daucus carota subsp. azoricus and Daucus carota subsp. maritimus) and populations. Moreover, we measured a total of 31 morphological characters from across the stem, inflorescences, flowers, and fruits. Finally, we performed germination tests in order understand the phenotypical diversity observed and cultivating Daucus carota subsp. azoricus under different climates and soils. Preliminary results indicate that there are no major morphological differences between the sampled sites. Similarly, with cytogenomic data it was not possible to discriminate between the two subspecies. However, the molecular data revealed variation across the archipelago with different haplotypes obtained from the screened regions.