Genetic diversity among elite sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) accessions genotyped with SSR markers to enhance use of global genetic resources

Abstract

Analysis of genetic diversity, selection of parents with diverse genetic base having contrasting phenotype is an important step in developing mapping populations for QTL detection, association mapping and MAS studies. To elucidate the diversity among Marathwada (Maharashtra) region cultivated sorghum accessions we studied genetic diversity in 20 sorghum accessions using SSR markers. The polymorphism information content (PIC), a measure of gene diversity present in the selected population, varied from 0.38 to 0.72 with an average of 0.55 and was significantly correlated with number of alleles. Clustering analysis based on the unrooted phylogeny using neighbour-joining (NJ) method, bootstrapping of the data (10,000 permutations) as implemented in POWERMARKER grouped the 20 accessions into three clusters and grouping was in good agreement with biological status and some important traits of sorghum accessions. The SSR loci msbCIR306, Xtxp321, msbCIR329, Xcup02 and Xisep0310 were rich in allelic diversity exhibiting highest PIC value.