Agrupamiento de genotipos de nopal (Opuntia spp.) de México por medio de la técnica de AFLPs y características del fruto Cladistics of Mexican nopal genotypes (Opuntia spp.) based on AFLP markers and fruit characters

Dendrograms were constructed based on AFLP mark- ers and a table was used to group fruit characters of wild and cultivat- ed genotypes of Mexican nopal (Opuntia spp.). The AFLP dendro- gram obtained using ≈57.5 markers (from primers Mse I-CAC/Eco RI-AAG) did not agree with the known taxonomic classification for this species. Additionally, a complementary table for fruit characters (morphological and °Brix) showed a wide range for wild genotypes, e.g. from 21-22 °Brix for 'Tapon Blanco' and 'Guilanche' genotypes, to 5.0-8.2 °Brix for xoconostles (acidic fruits). Even though there were some divergences with taxonomic classification, it is expected that both genetic and physicochemical information would contrib- ute to a more appropriate identification of Opuntia genotypes that, in turn, may be used in breeding programs of this genus.