Systematic Studies of Solanum section Basarthrum

与马铃薯相关的热带植物物种的两部分研究，强调系统发育关系和进化变化过程的问题，将由dr。康涅狄格大学的格雷格·安德森和罗伯特·詹森说。它们将生成一个关于叶绿体DNA和核糖体DNA的大型数据集。这些数据和其他数据将用于构建龙葵部分玄武岩种的假定谱系关系的树状图或枝状图。第二个系列的研究将提供与进化变化的假设机制有关的数据，来自形态学、繁殖系统、地理分布和染色体组成的数据。这些面向过程的研究应该有助于理解系统发育模式是如何产生的。这项研究的重点是一组大约25个物种，它们原产于拉丁美洲的高山，与土豆密切相关。该物种还包括“pepino dulce”，这是一种安第斯物种，因其果实而被驯化。pepino的分类关系尚不清楚，起源不明；因此，这项研究将有利于作物改良，因为它可以找到可以纳入栽培品种的有用性状的来源。此外，这项研究将有助于解释雌雄异株龙葵的起源，这种物种有单独的雄性（花粉）和雌性（胚珠）植株，这在该属中是一种不寻常的繁殖系统。

A two-part study of tropical plant species related to potatoes, emphasizing questions of phylogenetic relationship and processes of evolutionary change, will be conducted by Drs. Greg Anderson and Robert Jansen of the University of Connecticut. They will generate a large data set of characters pertaining to chloroplast DNA and nuclear ribosomal DNA. These and other data will be used to construct a tree or cladogram of putative genealogical relationships of Solanum section Basarthrum species. A second series of studies will provide data bearing on hypothesized mechanisms of evolutionary change, data from morphology, breeding systems, geographical distribution, and chromosome composition. These process-oriented studies should help in understanding how the phylogenetic patterns were created. The studies focus upon a group of approximately 25 species that are native to the high mountains of Latin America and are closely related to potatoes. The group also includes the "pepino dulce," an Andean species domesticated for its fruit. Taxonomic relationships of the pepino are unclear and its origin unknown; thus, the study will benefit crop improvement by locating sources of useful traits that can be incorporated into the cultivated varieties. In addition the study will help explain the origins of dioecious solanums, species with separate male (pollen) and female (ovule) plants, an otherwise unusual breeding system in the genus.