Genetic Diversity of Narrowly Endemic Wild Coffea In Madagascar: Implications for Ex Situ Conservation

The genus Coffea L. (Rubiaceae) consists of 103 described species distributed in Africa, Madagascar, the Comoros and the Mascarene Islands (Reunion and Mauritius). Although, very recently the genus Psilanthus Hook.f. has been added to Coffea, bringing the total number of species to 124, and extending the natural geographical range of Coffea to include tropical Asia and Australia Of these, two species are economically important for the production of the beverage coffee: Coffea arabica and C. canephora. Madagascar has 59 described species of which 42 are listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable by criteria of the Red List Category system of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).  The National Center of Applied Research and Rural Development (FOFIFA), the main agricultural research agency in Madagascar, manages and operates the Kianjavato Coffee Research Station which has a vast ex situ collection of various Madagascan coffee species. There have been no genetic diversity studies of the ex situ germplasm at the Kianjavato Coffee Research Station or the in situ populations of wild coffee in Madagascar. Genetic studies need to be undertaken to better understand if current management practices are adequately maintaining the genetic integrity of these valuable genetic resources. Our study focuses on assessing the genetic diversity of the ex situ and in situ populations, and gene flow patterns within the ex situ collection. One of the outcomes will be to make recommendations for the long term conservation of the wild coffee gene pool. Utilizing six microsatellite markers, our study focuses on three species that are cultivated at the Kianjavato Coffee Research Station and also found locally as narrow endemics in the Kianjavato region: Coffea kianjavatensis, C. montis-sacri, and C. vatovavyensis.