ANÁLISIS AFLP DE LA VARIABILIDAD GENÉTICA EN TRES FORMAS DE REPRODUCCIÓN DE Agave tequilana

Resumen

The Agave genus belongs to the Agavaceae family and contains around 200 species with diverse uses. Agave tequilana is one of the most important species at the industrial level in México since sugars accumulated in the stems of these plants are used to produce the spirit called tequila. Agave production is supported by intensive clonal propagation and the suppression of the sexual reproduction, leading to reduction in genetic variability and a greater susceptibility to plagues and diseases in commercial plantations. Nevertheless, this study with plants from a field in Guanajuato, México, carried out using AFLP markers shows that differences at the molecular level exist between offsets and bulbils produced asexually from the same mother plant (75.08 and 86.06 % polymorphic loci, respectively). Although a significant level of polymorphism is observed between rhizome offsets, levels are even higher between bulbils, reaching levels comparable to those found between plantlets produced from seeds (90.1 %). We propose a more detailed study of the factors causing genetic variability between asexually propagated individuals of Agave tequilana.