Genetic distinctness revealed by SSR characterization in Cucumis sativus L. and its wild relatives

Abstract

The present work was undertaken to assess the genetic diversity by characterization using SSR markers in diverse collections of Cucumis genotypes. The results revealed that the accessions varied distinctly at the genomic level. The size of the amplicons ranged from 121.13 bp (SSR12810) to 362.84 bp (SSR11742) with a mean number of 4.10 alleles per locus. Number of amplicons ranged from 2.00 (SSR19493) to 6.00 (SSR11742 and AF202378) respectively. The PIC ranged from 0.20 in SSR06660 to 0.81 in AF20237. The Jaccard’s similarity coefficient values were maximum (0.83) between IC618084A and IC613480; IC613484 and IC595512 and IC613470 and 469517, which was in consonance with the clustering pattern followed in the dendrogram. Marker index ranged from 0.35 in SSR19493 to 4.05 in AF202378. Highest PIC and marker index values in AF202378 (0.81 and 4.05 respectively) followed by SSR11742 (0.75 and 3.77 respectively) are in agreement with their maximum number of amplicons produced, indicating that these markers are very informative and can be used in future genetic diversity analysis studies in cucumber.