Morphological and DNA marker based genetic diversity assessment and tagging QTLS controlling economic traits in Jasmine (Jasminum spp.)

Abstract

A collection of 56 accessions of Indian jasmine originating from diverse areas in India was studied for genetic diversity assessment and association mapping of economically important traits. Fourteen quantitative and 9 qualitative traits were studied and wide ranges of variation were observed. Based on morphological traits, jasmine genotypes were grouped into seven clusters using UPGMA clustering method. Five combinations of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and 56 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to screen the 56 jasmine genotypes. Five AFLP primer combinations yielded a total of 220 marker loci with 81.1% polymorphism. Shanon Weaver Diversity Index, Average Genetic Diversity, Average Phenotypic Genetic Diversity calculated for AFLP markers were 0.13, 0.28 and 0.30, respectively. Jasmine genotypes were also screened by 56 SSR markers revealing high genetic diversity. Twenty four polymorphic SSR markers yielded a total of 99 alleles with a mean number of 4.12 alleles per locus. Heterozygosity ranged from 10.64% to 100%. Allelic diversity and allelic frequency ranges were 0.12-0.74 and 0.01-0.65, respectively. The average PIC (Polymorphic Information Content) for the 24 polymorphic SSR markers is 5.15. The phenogram obtained by UPGMA clustering from AFLP and SSR markers showed 56 jasmine accessions to form 9 clusters. A 250 bp amplicon of SSR marker StvChr_9a specific to the jasmine species J. auriculatum was reported in this study. Population structure study through the software STRUCTURE revealed presence of 4 subgroups in the jasmine germplasm. The 220 AFLP marker loci and 99 SSR marker alleles revealed a significant association of 42 markers (r2 gt10%) with 9 economically important traits.