Evaluation of the chlroplast DNA among Vicia faba L. germplasm using restriction-site analysis

A restriction-site analysis of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) was carried out to evaluate the level of diversity in Vicia faba L. germplasm selected from different geographical regions using 11 restriction endonucleases. We analyzed 214 restriction sites in 18 accessions of Vicia faba. All of the accessions had identical cpDNAs, pointing out the ancestral character of all the accessions are of only one gene pool, and all of them must have evolved through the same maternal lineage. Molecular size of the chloroplast DNAs obtained was 123.25 kb, indicating that it had lost one of the inverted repeats. Due to lack of cpDNA diversity, it is concluded that the broad bean has passed through a genetic bottleneck during domestication and lost most of its cytoplasmic variability. The present study favors the monophyletic origin of its cytoplasm, and accordingly, of Vicia faba.