Résumé
Prunus cerasus L. belongs to the section Eucerasus of the Prunus genus and is a tetraploid species. It is thought to be the result of a natural cross between wild P. avium L. and P. fruticosa Pall. (ground or steppe cherry). Since the genome of P. avium is diploid and A fruticosa is tetraploid, P. cerasus might have arisen from a fecundation event between non-reduced P. avium and P. fruticosa gametes. In order to verify this hypothesis, we studied P. avium, P. cerasus and P. fruticosa samples from different European countries using cpDNA and genomic (SSR) markers. Our data shows that some A cerasus haplotypes are identical to some P. fruticosa haplotypes (mainly in Hungarian samples), suggesting that P. fruticosa might have participated as a female parent to the A cerasus genome. Concerning genomic markers, some P. cerasus alleles were shared either with P. avium or P. fruticosa samples, indicating participation of the two latter species in the P. cerasus genome.