Assessment of genetic diversity between wild and cultivated artichokes using SSR markers

Artichokes is an economically important crop, due to its value in polyphenols compounds and inulin whit marked antioxidant and prebiotic activities. Wild artichokes possess a source of genetic variation for biotic and abiotic stress and higher polyphenolic compounds. Here, we used 10 SSR microsatellite markers to assess genetic variation between cultivated and wild species. Specific molecular markers show efficient introgression of such traits in cultivated as well as wild artichokes species. Cluster analysis discriminated all 30 accessions and classified cultivated and wild species in distinct groups. Results from PCoA analysis suggested that artichoke genotype contains a higher number of unique alleles.