Faidherbia albida genetic diversity paper published

The paper by Schatz Center Visiting Scientist and Fulbright Scholar Dr. Dorothy T. Tchatchoua, of the University of Maroua, on her project with us on genetic diversity in white acacia, was just published in African Journal of Biotechnology.  The paper can be downloaded at the journal website.   The full citation is:

Tchatchoua TD, Poethig RS, Doody E, Weathers TC, Swartz K, Mathieson I, Zembower N, Zhebentyayeva T, Carlson JE. 2020. Genetic diversity of Faidherbia albida populations in the Sudano Sahelian region of Cameroon, using SSR (Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. African Journal of Biotechnology, 19(7): 415-425.

In Dr. Tchatchoua's research project in The Schatz Center, she grew over 250 seedlings from seed she and her group at the University of Maroua collected from nine populations of white acacia (Faidherbia albida) distributed across Sahal region of northern Cameroon.  She developed a set of informative microsatellite DNA (SSR) genetic markers with which she tested DNAs isolated from the seedlings to answer the questions "how much genetic variation exists within each of the Faidherbia populations?", "to what extent are these populations genetically distinct?", and "how does phenotypic (morphological) variation observed among seedlings compare to the level of genetic diversity?".   Dr. Tchatchoua's research revealed significant genetic and morphological variation among seedlings within each population, which is valuable for use in selection and breeding programs.  However little differences were observed overall between the populations.

Dr. Tchatchoua was assisted in her research by Schatz Center members Casey Weathers, Krystle Swartz, Nicole Zembower, and Tetyana Zhebentyayeva, and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania Scoot Poethig, Erin Doody, and Iain Mathieson.