Cytogenetic and isozyme studies of wild and cultivated Capsicum annuum.

The esterase isozymes of 15 wild and cultivated accessions of Capsicum annuum from different geographic areas throughout the United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America showed three patterns. All accessions from central Mexico, including the cultivated type, and some from the United States, had pattern A. Other accessions from the United States, those from Central America, and those from Peru had pattern B; those from Colombia had pattern C. Pattern C had more bands, apparently identical with those in the hybrids between A and B. F1 plants between the Colombian accession used in a hybridization test and accessions with patterns A and B showed associations of four or six chromosomes at metaphase I of meiosis. The hypothesis is discussed that pattern C resulted from a process of gene duplication. The alternative explanation of permanent translocation heterozygosity is excluded because in the Colombian accessions no multivalents were observed at meiosis.Key words: Capsicum, geographic distributions, duplication, translocation, isozymes.