GENETIC RESOURCES AND CROP EVOLUTION AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, cilt.1010071072202402275, sa.10.1007/s10722-024-02275-x, ss.1-17, 2024 (Scopus)
Plant genetic resources are invaluable assets for nations, essential for breeding programs, and agricultural advancements. Assessing the genetic variation within these resources is crucial for their effective utilization in breeding. This study investigates the genetic diversity among 96 Gundelia L. genotypes, comprising 17 identified species and 5 undefined species, collected from 26 different provinces. The genetic diversity of these genotypes was analyzed using inter-primer binding site (iPBS) markers. Out of 83 iPBS primers tested, 15 primers yielded a total of 244 distinct and scorable bands. The number of alleles detected per primer ranged from 11 (iPBS-2253) to 24 (iPBS-2376). The mean polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.30, with individual values ranging from 0.2 (iPBS-2251) to 0.42 (iPBS-2387). Additionally, the average effective number of alleles (ne), gene diversity (h), and Shannon’s information index (I) across all primers were found to be 1.72, 0.42, and 0.61, respectively. Cluster analysis was conducted using Dice’s genetic distance and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA). Based on the iPBS data, clustering analysis grouped the genotypes into three distinct clusters. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) further identified three significant components, explaining 83.30% of the total variance among the genotypes. Genetic structure analysis divided the Gundelia genotypes into three subpopulations, with F-statistic (FST) values of 0.2775, 0.2386, and 0.3147 for the first, second, and third subpopulations, respectively. The expected heterozygosity rates for these subpopulations were 0.2753, 0.2687, and 0.2949, respectively. This study is pioneering in its investigation of the genetic diversity and population structure of Gundelia germplasm using the iPBS-retrotransposon marker system. The findings underscore the utility of iPBS markers in reliably elucidating the genetic diversity of Gundelia genotypes, providing a valuable resource for future breeding and conservation efforts.