Molecular diversity and population structure analysis using simple sequence repeat markers among large collection of pomegranate genotypes (Punica granatum L.)
摘要
Pomegranate is a high-value fruit crop which is commercially grown in many parts of India. It is a ‘super food’ because of its nutritional benefits and medicinal, uses generating a huge demand for this crop in domestic and international market. Molecular characterization is essential to understand genetic relatedness among the genotypes and determine their utility in the crop improvement programmes after phenotyping. The present work comprised of genotyping of 60 pomegranate genotypes including 16 indigenous cultivars, 18 wild accessions and 26 exotic cultivars by utilizing 52 publicly available SSRs. Twenty-six polymorphic markers yielded 67 alleles with an average of 2.57 alleles per locus. The average polymorphic information content, observed heterozygosity (Ho) and Shannon’s gene diversity index (I) were 0.51, 0.273 and 0.71, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on genetic distance, clustered 60 genotypes into three major clusters comprised of wild accessions, exotic and indigenous cultivated genotypes. We have reported 9 unique alleles in wild, 9 in cultivated and 19 in exotic pomegranate genotypes. The population STRUCTURE analysis also differentiated genotypes into three major types. The marker and genetic diversity information revealed through this study may be utilized in pomegranate improvement.