As part of the PBI Solanum grant I am using morphological and molecular markers to investigate species boundaries and relationships in the wild potato series Piurana, and possibly related species in series Ingifolia and Cuneoalata. This group currently is defined by globose to slightly elongated fruits, shiny coriaceous leaves, and a unique moniliform tuber morphology, unlike single tubers placed at the end of stolons typical of the rest of section Petota. Prior chloroplast DNA restriction site data united all members of series Piurana into a distinct clade, but with members of other series as well, and the boundaries of the series are not yet entirely clear. I am exploring the monophyly of the group with molecular markers. Series Piurana includes mainly diploids, but a couple of polyploids of possible hybrid origin. The morphological data will be obtained from a field trial of germplasm accessions from the US Potato Genebank and The International Potato Center in a field station in Huancayo Peru, and compared to new molecular data. I am exploring both intron-rich DNA sequences from single-copy genes for this purpose as well as marker data from AFLPs. As well, I am gathering herbarium data for species descriptions and to sort out the nomenclature of this group.
