Developing a Molecular Pipeline to Identify Chenopodium Species in New England

Chenopodium quinoa is a highly nutritious and valuable South American crop that is also highly adaptable. However, quinoa is particularly susceptible to fungal foliar diseases, and downy mildew is especially destructive. This susceptibility is a major concern, as downy mildew has been identified on nearly every continent. In New England, there are a number of weedy relatives of quinoa that grow successfully in the midst of downy mildew. If these weedy Chenopodium species harbor some genetic resistance to downy mildew, they could potentially be bred with quinoa to transfer that resistance. Mildew-resistant quinoa might open the doors for similar breeding projects elsewhere, and it could provide a new crop for New England growers. However, the New England chenopods must first be examined. Chenopodium is a difficult genus, taxonomically, and its weedy members harbor a great deal of diversity and adaptability. This means that, historically, these species have been misidentified many times. For instance, common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) is an agricultural weed, but the name has become a “catch-all” for at least three different species with different ploidy levels. One of the goals of this research is to develop a molecular pipeline for identifying Chenopodium species that can be used to clarify these taxonomic mysteries, as well as to pick potential breeding material for quinoa. We will describe our efforts to date in examining freshly collected samples as well as herbarium specimens using amplicon sequencing, RAPD PCR profiling, and flow cytometric determination of C value.