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Spanish wheat (Triticum spp.) landraces have a considerable polymorphism, containing many unique alleles, relative to other collections. The existence of a core collection is a favored approach for breeders to efficiently explore novel variation and enhance the use of germplasm. In this study, the Spanish durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) core collection (CC) was created using a population structure-based method, grouping accessions by subspecies and allocating the number of genotypes among populations according to the diversity of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The CC of 94 genotypes was established, which accounted for 17% of the accessions in the entire collection. An alternative core collection (CH), with the same number of genotypes per subspecies and maximizing the coverage of SSR alleles, was assembled with the Core Hunter software. The quality of both core collections was compared with a random core collection and evaluated using geographic, agromorphological, and molecular marker data not previously used in the selection of genotypes. Both core collections had a high genetic representativeness, which validated their sampling strategies. Geographic and agromorphological variation, phenotypic correlations, and gliadin alleles of the original collection were more accurately depicted by the CC. Diversity arrays technology (DArT) markers revealed that the CC included genotypes less similar than the CH. Although more SSR alleles were retained by the CH (94%) than by the CC (91%), the results showed that the CC was better than CH for breeding purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the genetic variation in Basque Y chromosome lineages using data on 12 Y-short tandem repeat (STR) loci in a sample of 158 males from four Basque provinces of Spain (Alava, Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, and Navarre). As reported in previous studies, the Basques are characterized by high frequencies of haplogroup R1b (83%). AMOVA analysis demonstrates genetic homogeneity, with a small but significant amount of genetic structure between provinces (Y-short tandem repeat loci STRs: 1.71%, p = 0.0369). Gene and haplotype diversity levels in the Basque population are on the low end of the European distribution (gene diversity: 0.4268; haplotype diversity: 0.9421). Post-Neolithic contribution to the paternal Basque gene pool was estimated by measuring the proportion of those haplogroups with a Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) previously dated either prior (R1b, I2a2) or subsequent to (E1b1b, G2a, J2a) the Neolithic. Based on these estimates, the Basque provinces show varying degrees of post-Neolithic contribution in the paternal lineages (10.9% in the combined sample). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We evaluate the usefulness of MiniFiler™Kit in the field of ancient DNA. A set of samples belonging to different locations from Iberian Peninsula, with ages ranging from Neolithic to XVII century, was tested. Results could be replicated in only one burial site, probably due to the taphonomic conditions. Other cases could only produce partial or none genetic profiles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to apply autosomal STRs and X-STRs to confirm paternity and sibship in a sample of 315 female twins and triplets from the region of Murcia in Spain. X-STR amplification was performed using GEP-ISFG X-STR decaplex primers. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were not observed at any loci. Acceptable levels of power of discrimination and mean exclusion chance were determined. The highest locus diversity and power of discrimination was determined for loci GATA172D05 and GATA31E08. Combined power of discrimination was 0.9999999997 (females) 0.999998548 (males). Mean exclusion chance was 0.999993172 (trios) and 0.999708265 (duos). Pairwise genetic distance (Fst) of X-STR frequencies suggest that Murcia can be closely grouped to other Iberian populations, and genetically furthest from Pas Valley, Navarra and Basque Country. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]