Inflorescence and cultivation of <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i>.

<p>(A) Inflorescence of elephant foot yams at anthesis. (B) Rough petiole of <i>A</i>. <i>paeoniifolius var</i>. <i>sylvestris</i>; the corm is considered less palatable in Lombok-Indonesia. (C) A large plant in Rayong Province, Thailand. (D) Semi-wild plants in an abandoned farm in Lombok-Indonesia. (E) Growing plants in an open lowland field in Kerala state, India.</p

Phylogenetic tree among 29 <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> populations from India, Indonesia and Thailand using 1,000 bootstrap replicates.

<p>The bar shows the genetic distance. The MED and WEST populations were considered out groups from the Indonesian and Indian populations, respectively.</p

Population structure of elephant foot yams (<i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> (Dennst.) Nicolson) in Asia

<div><p>The corms and leaves of elephant foot yams (<i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> (Dennst.) Nicolson) are important foods in the local diet in many Asian regions. The crop has high productivity and wide agroecological adaptation and exhibits suitability for the agroforestry system. Although the plant is assumed to reproduce via panmixia, a comprehensive study on the genetic background across regions to enhance wider consumer palatability is still lacking. Here, ten informative microsatellites were analyzed in 29 populations across regions in India, Indonesia and Thailand to understand the genetic diversity, population structure and distribution to improve breeding and conservation programs. The genetic diversity was high among and within regions. Some populations exhibited excess heterozygosity and bottlenecking. Pairwise <i>F</i>_<i>ST</i> indicated very high genetic differentiation across regions (<i>F</i>_<i>ST</i> = 0.274), and the Asian population was unlikely to be panmictic. Phylogenetic tree construction grouped the populations according to country of origin with the exception of the Medan population from Indonesia. The current gene flow was apparent within the regions but was restricted among the regions. The present study revealed that Indonesia and Thailand populations could be alternative centers of the gene pool, together with India. Consequently, regional action should be incorporated in genetic conservation and breeding efforts to develop new varieties with global acceptance.</p></div

Summary of 10 microsatellite loci across populations of elephant foot yam, <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> (Dennst.) Nicolson.

<p>Summary of 10 microsatellite loci across populations of elephant foot yam, <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> (Dennst.) Nicolson.</p

Study sites in India, Indonesia and Thailand.

<p>Filled dots denote study sites; provinces or islands are shown in insets; and numbers in an inset denote sampling sites. Bold lines are possible routes of gene flow. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0180000#pone.0180000.s002" target="_blank">S1 Table</a> for the population codes and site descriptions.</p

Model-based ancestry for each individual in <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> populations with enforcement of the clusters K = 3, K = 4 and K = 5.

<p>The color codes represent the clusters of the STRUCTURE analysis.</p

Structure and population differentiation of <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> (Dennst.) Nicolson revealed using 10 microsatellite loci.

<p>Structure and population differentiation of <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> (Dennst.) Nicolson revealed using 10 microsatellite loci.</p

Dendrogram of the genetic distance among 29 <i>Amorphophallus paeoniifolius</i> populations using unrooted neighbor joining.

<p>The bar shows genetic distance.</p