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Polyploid speciation in wild potatoes (Solanum sect. Petota)

Talk - The wild relatives of the potato (Solanum sect. Petota) comprise a
group of about 200 tuber-bearing Solanum species. Polyploidy is rather
common in the group with, besides a majority of diploid species, also
triploids, tetraploids, pentaploids and hexaploids. Most of the polyploids
are hypothesized to be allopolyploids, originated through hybridization.
Hybridization hypotheses abound in sect. Petota, mostly inferred from
morphological and cytological data. A few cases have been tested with
synthetic hybrids and/or molecular data. The evolutionary history of sect.
Petota and, indeed, the origin of the (tetraploid) cultivated potato, is by
and large a tale of the development of polyploid species (groups).
Unravelling the composition of polyploid genomes has become feasible using
molecular data and advanced cytogenetic tools like genome in situ
hybridization (GISH).