Studies of diversity permit conclusions about the genetic structure of
species. Systematically developed core collections are a particularly
good tool for such purposes. The objective of this study was to evalu
ate the genetic structure between and within gene pools of a core coll
ection of wild Phaseolus vulgaris L. using the technique of amplified
restriction polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. DNA fingerprint patterns of
114 genotypes were analyzed by the NTSYS program. Major groups or gene
pools were recognized in Mesoamerica, Colombia, the northern Andes of
Ecuador and northern Peru, and the southern Andes, although the separ
ation among gene pools was not wide. A unique segment of germplasm fro
m northern Peru showed greater genetic distance than the other gene po
ols. Although most Mexican wild beans formed a rather homogenous group
, a small number of accessions clustered with the Andean gene pool, an
d accessions from Guatemala tended to cluster apart from Mexican acces
sions. In the southern Andean gene pool, more discrete groups were for
med which were associated with certain regions such as Argentina, poss
ibly reflecting greater geographic and genetic isolation. Colombian ac
cessions appeared to be highly introgressed with germplasm from other
areas. AFLP analysis produced a large amount of data in a short period
, thus permitting greater insights into the genetic structure of wild
beans than had been possible with other methods of analysis.