Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Maize Landraces from the South Maize Region of China

Understanding genetic diversity and population structure of landraces is important in utilization of these germplasm in breeding programs. In the present study, a total of 143 core maize landraces from the South Maize Region （SR） of China, which can represent the general profile of the genetic diversity in the landraces germplasm of SR, were genotyped by 54 DNA microsatellite markers. Totally, 517 alleles （ranging from 4 to 22） were detected among these landraces, with an average of 9.57 alleles per locus. The total gene diversity of these core landraces was 0.61, suggesting a rather higher level of genetic diversity. Analysis of population structure based on Bayesian method obtained the samilar result as the phylogeny neighbor-joining （N J） method. The results indicated that the whole set of 143 core landraces could be clustered into two distinct groups. All landraces from Guangdong, Hainan, and 15 landraces from Jiangxi were clustered into group 1, while those from the other regions of SR formed the group 2. The results from the analysis of genetic diversity showed that both of groups possessed a similar gene diversity, but group 1 possessed relatively lower mean alleles per locus （6.63） and distinct alleles （91） than group 2 （7.94 and 110, respectively）. The relatively high richness of total alleles and distinct alleles preserved in the core landraces from SR suggested that all these germplasm could be useful resources in germplasm enhancement and maize breeding in China.     

A Comparative Analysis of B Chromosomes and Genetic Diversity in Maize （Zea mays L.） Landraces from Southwest China

The number of B chromosomes （Bs） in 54 maize landraces from Southwest China was tested by means of cytological observations. Nine landraces with Bs were observed. A map, showing the geographic distribution of the landraces with Bs, was plotted. It was found that southeastern Sichuan Province in China was the main distribution area of the landraces with Bs in Southwest China. In order to obtain information on relationships between Bs and genetic variation, genetic diversity both among and within 11 landraces was evaluated. For each SSR marker, the number of alleles ranged from 3 to 12 with an average of 7.86, which revealed a high level of genetic diversity among maize landraces in Southwest China. Based on SSRs data, higher genetic variation was found in the landraces with 2B, and the genetic distance between the landraces with and without Bs was higher. The results together with the principal component analysis （PCA） supported the hypothesis that maize landraces in Southwest China were first introduced to the middle part of southwest Sichuan, China. At the same time, the effect of Bs on genetic variation was discussed.     

Method of Constructing Core Collection for Malus sieversii in Xinjiang, China Using Molecular Markers

The method for constructing core collection ofMalus sieversii based on molecular marker data was proposed. According to 128 SSR allele of 109 M. sieversii, an allele preferred sampling strategy was used to construct M. sieversii core collection, using the UPGMA （unweighted pair-group average method） cluster method according to Nei ＆ Li, SM, and Jaccard genetic distances, by stepwise clustering, and compared with the random sampling strategy. The number of lost allele and t-test of Nei＇s gene diversity and Shannon＇s information index were used to evaluate the representative core collections. The results showed that compared with the random sampling strategy, allele preferred sampling strategy could construct more representative core collections. SM, difference for construction of M. sieversii core collection. Jaccard, and Nei ＆ Li genetic distances had no significant SRAP （sequence-related amplified polymorphism） data and morphological data showed that allele preferred sampling strategy was a good sampling strategy for constructing core collection of M. sieversii. Allele preferred sampling strategy combined with SM, Jaccard, and Nei ＆ Li genetic distances using stepwise clustering was the suitable method for constructing M. sieversii core collection.     

Comparative Analysis of Genetic Diversity in Landraces of Waxy Maize from Yunnan and Guizhou Using SSR Markers

Waxy maize landraces are abundant inYunnan and Guizhou of China. Genetic diversity of waxy maize landraces from Yunnan and Guizhou were analyzed using SSR markers. We screened 38 landraces with 50 primers that generated 3 to 6 polymorphic bands, with an average of 4.13 bands. Shannon＇s information indices for genetic diversity of the 14 waxy maize landraces from Yunnan varied from 4.9571 to 42.1138 and averaged 26.5252; Shannon＇s information indices for genetic diversity of the 24 waxy maize landraces from Guizhou varied from 22.0066 to 40.6320 and averaged 32.3156. For the 14 waxy maize landraces from Yunnan, the within-landrace genetic diversity accounted for 45.40% and the among-landrace genetic diversity accounted for 54.60% of the total genetic diversity observed. For the 24 waxy maize landraces from Guizhou, the within-landrace genetic diversity accounted for 50.76% and the among-landrace genetic diversity accounted for 49.24% of the total observed. Some individual landraces possessed as much as 96.86% of the total genetic diversity occurring among landraces within origins. Differentiation between geographic origins accounted for only 3.14% of the total genetic diversity. Both Yunnan and Guizhou would be the diversity centers and the original centers of waxy maize.     

Genetic Diversity of Two Important Groups of Maize Landraces with Same Name in China Revealed by M13 Tailed-Primer SSRs

Maize landraces White Dent and Golden Queen played a very important role in the pre-hybrid era of maize production in China. However, dozens of accessions with the same names of White Dent and Golden Queen are preserved in China National Genebank （CNG）. The present study investigated the genetic diversity of these two important groups of maize landraces, as well as the relationships within and among them. Thirty-four landrace accessions with the name of White Dent and 10 with Golden Queen preserved in CNG were fingerprinted with 52 simple sequence repeats with tailed primer M13. Summary statistics including average number of alleles per locus, gene diversity/expected heterozygosity, and observed heterozygosity were carried out using PowerMarker ver. 3.25 software. The test of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium （HWE） and linkage disequilibrium （LD） of all the 44 maize landrace accessions were also performed by PowerMarker. We observed a significant differentiation in terms of the average number of alleles between White Dent and Golden Queen （6.44 alleles per locus in White Dent, 4.48 in Golden Queen）, while both groups of maize landraces had a relatively high but similar gene diversity （0.61 of White Dent, 0.63 of Golden Queen）. The fixation index （FST） was only 0.0044, while the percentage of loci deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium within these two groups of White Dent and Golden Queen was 32.69 and 3.92%, respectively. The rather high genetic diversity and average number of alleles per locus confirmed that both groups of landraces had a rather broad germplasm base. The extremely low fixation index showed that there was little genetic variation between White Dent and Golden Queen and the molecular variation within these two groups was remarkably high, indicating no genetic drift between White Dent and Golden Queen and suggesting different improvement approaches to these two important groups of landraces. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test revealed that the group of White Dent was deviated from HWE, whereas Golden Queen was under HWE.     

Genetic Variation in Triticum turgidum L.ssp.turgidum Landraces from China Assessed by EST-SSR Markers

It was helpful for the wheat improvement to evaluate the genetic resources of Triticum turgidum L. ssp. turgidum landraces. In this study, 68 turgidum landraces accessions, belonging to four geographic populations in China, were investigated by using EST-SSR markers. A total of 63 alleles were detected on 22 EST-SSR loci, and the number of alleles on each locus ranged from 1 to 5, with an average of 2.9. The results of the analysis of molecular variance （AMOVA） indicated that 92.5% of the total variations was attributed to the genetic variations within population, whereas only 7.5% variations among populations. Although the four populations had similar genetic diversity parameters, Sichuan population was yet distinguished from other populations when comparing the population samples in pairs. Significant correlations were detected by the statistic analysis among six genetic diversity parameters among each other. The selection difference between heterozygosty and homozygosty was also observed among different EST-SSR locus. The genetic similarity （GS） ranged from 0.18 to 0.98, with the mean of 0.72, and all accessions could be clustered into 7 groups. The dendrogram suggested that the genetic relationships among turgidum accessions evaluated by EST-SSR markers were unrelated to their geographic distributions. These results implied that turgidum landraces from China had the unique characters of genetic diversity.     

Genetic Variation in Rhizome Lotus （Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. ssp. nucifera） Germplasms from China Assessed by RAPD Markers

To estimate genetic variation in rhizome lotus （Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. ssp. nucifera） germplasms in China, a total of 94 rhizome lotus germplasms collected from 18 provinces in China were assessed. The RAPD （randomly amplified polymorphic DNA） marker was employed. The selected 17 random primers detected 139 polymorphic alleles out of a total 207 （67.15%）. Nei＇s gene diversity statistics and region differentiation parameters indicated that all germplasms had a relatively high level of genetic diversity with ne = 1.3202, h = 0.1937, I= 0.2982 and the gene flow among all regions was Nrn = 5.5742. The UPGMA dendrogram clustered all 94 germplasms into two clusters： One contained eight commercial cultivars and major landraces, and the other included the wild and some special landraces from five regions, and the PCA analysis exhibited the similar result. Those germplasms from southwestern and eastern China had higher genetic diversity than those from the southern, northern and central China. Predominant proportion of genetic variation （95.61%） was found significant within rather than among （4.39%） regions, as revealed by AMOVA analysis. The data analysis also revealed that the genetic diversity of rhizome lotus germplasms among different regions is positively related to their geographic distances, though it is ambiguous to find the trend from the UPGMA dendrogram and the PCA analysis. A relatively high genetic diversity and gene flow resided in the root lotus germplasms; about 96% of the variation was found within region; accessions from southwest and eastern China have higher genetic diversity than those from the southern, northern and central China.     

Analysis of SSRs Uncovers Hierarchical Structure and Genetic Diversity in Chinese Soybean Landraces

For clarifying the hierarchical patterns of population structure of soybean landraces in China, the seven clusters previously identified using Bayesian clustering of 1 504 soybean landraces based on SSR markers genotyping data were further analyzed. Using the largest value of AK, these landraces could be split into 20 sub-clusters, which was supported by highly significant pairwise Fst-values and generally in accordance with the geographic origin and sowing types. The autumn-sowing types ended up in one distinct sub-cluster from the otherwise summer-sowing type, where the autumn- sowing types are most likely derived from. The division into 20 sub-clusters explained 7.3% of the genetic variation, next to 9.7% present among the seven clusters, 81.1% residing among landraces within sub-clusters, and 1.9% within the landraces. The distribution pattern of genetic diversity among the sub-clusters of each cluster was uneven, with two HSuM sub-clusters （Central China） and some South China sub-clusters showing significantly higher level of genetic diversity.     

Genetic Diversity of Maize Populations Developed by Two Kinds of Recurrent Selection Methods Investigated with SSR Markers

Two cycles of biparental mass selection （MS） and one cycle of half-sib-S3 family combining selection （HS-S3） for yield were carried out in 2 synthetic maize populations P4C0 and P5C0 synchronously. The genetic diversity of 8 maize populations, including both the basic populations and their developed populations, were evaluated by 30 SSR primers. On the 30 SSR loci, a total of 184 alleles had been detected in these populations. At each locus, the number of alleles varied from 2 to 14, with an average of 6.13. The number and ratio of polymorphic loci in both the basic populations were higher than those of their developed populations, respectively. There was nearly no difference after MS but decreased after HS-S3 in both the basic populations in the mean gene heterozygosity. The mean genetic distance changed slightly after MS but decreased in a bigger degree after HS-S3 in both the basic populations. Analyses on the distribution of genetic distances showed that the ranges of the genetic distance were wider after MS and most of the genetic distances in populations developed by HS-S3 were smaller than those in both the basic populations. The number of genotypes increased after MS but decreased after HS-S3 in both the basic populations. The genetic diversity of intra-population was much more than genetic diversity of inter-population in both the basic populations. All these indexes demonstrated that the genetic diversity of populations after MS was similar to their basic populations, and the genetic diversity was maintained during MS, whereas the genetic diversity of populations decreased after HS-S3. This result indicated that heterogeneity between some of the individuals in the developed populations increased after MS, whereas the populations become more homozygotic after HS-S3.     

Constructing a Core Collection for Maize (Zea mays L.) Landrace from Wuling Mountain Region in China

Based on the genetic clustering from 42 microsatellite (SSR) markers with a combination of their geographic origin and germplasm characteristics, 124 maize landraces from Wuling Mountain region in China were used for constructing a core collection. Four evaluating parameters for maize landrace core collection, including mean difference percentage (MD), variance difference percentage (VD), coincidence rate of range (CR), and variable rate of coefficient of variation (VR), were assessed with 20 quantitative traits. It was shown that genetic relationships among landraces in Wuling Mountain region had the tendency to associate with their geographic origins. The 124 landraces were clustered into 18 subgroups when the coefficient of genetic similarity (GS) is 0.28. Eighteen landraces, each of which was from one subgroup, were applied to construct the core collection with a sampling percentage of 15%. Comparison of the initial and core collection indicated that there existed no significant differences in most quantitative traits. An average of 6.3 and 6.5 alleles were detected in the initial and core collection, respectively. Mean polymorphism information content in the core collection (0.75) was higher than that in the initial one (0.72). MD was lesser than 20% and CR was more than 80%. The results showed that the sampling strategy would be feasible for constructing the core collection that well represents the genetic diversity of the initial one.     

基于SSR标记构建西南玉米地方品种核心种质的方法

结合地方品种的地理起源和种质特性,以17%的抽样率选取玉米核心品种,用SSR分子标记技术对54个玉米地方品种进行遗传聚类,研究中国西南地区玉米地方品种核心种质的构建方法.结果表明,由9个核心品种构成的核心种质较好地保持了原玉米地方品种群体的遗传变异,42对SSR引物在原玉米地方品种群体和核心种质中分别检测到268、256个等位基因,平均多态信息量分别为0.76和0.73,其评价参数平均数百分率、方差百分率和变异系数可变率分别为10%、10%、83.5%,表明构建的核心种质能较好地代表原种质资源群体.     

山西谷子地方品种初选核心种质构建

为了构建山西谷子地方品种核心种质,提高资源利用效率,采用离差平方和法进行系统聚类后随机取样,构建的初选核心种质保留了原始种质11.34%的遗传资源。分析结果显示：核心种质与原始种质表型性状均值差异百分率为5.9%,极差符合率为87.4%,方差差异百分率为35.3%,变异系数变化率为102.0%;经多样性指数t检验,表明初选核心种质能够代表原始种质的遗传多样性。     

利用ISSR分子标记构建新疆野杏核心种质资源

【目的】通过对不同取样策略和遗传距离相结合的组合结果进行分析对比,以此探讨分子水平构建新疆野杏核心种质的方法,确定最适核心种质资源,以利于种质的保护与利用。【方法】以分布于新疆伊犁地区霍城县大西沟、新源县博尔赛和巩留县伊依克台3个分布区的135个新疆野杏实生株系为材料,根据SM、Jaccard和Nei&Li遗传距离,采用UPGMA聚类法对新疆野杏整体进行多次聚类抽样,直到其中某个采样点再次聚类时无种质被抽取;以随机取样策略为对照取样策略,应用位点优先取样策略,研究新疆野杏核心种质构建的方法;采用丢失的等位基因数以及多态性位点数、多态性位点百分率、观测等位基因数、有效等位基因数、Nei’s遗传多样性指数和Shannon信息指数各遗传多样性指标进行t检验来确定最适构建方法;分别将核心种质与原种质和保留种质进行t检验和遗传多样性比较,以此来评价核心种质的代表性;并用主坐标轴分析法和表型性状对原种质和核心种质进行分析,以此对核心种质进行确认。【结果】位点优先取样策略构建的核心种质比对照随机取样策略丢失的多态性位点数少,且同一遗传距离下位点优先取样策略构建的核心种质具有较高的遗传多样性,更能构建一个具有代表性的核心种质;通过Nei & Li遗传距离构建的新疆野杏核心种质各遗传多样指标具有较大值,优于SM和Jaccard遗传距离;采用主坐标轴分析法和表型数据分析显示,利用位点优先取样策略和Nei & Li遗传距离构建的新疆野杏核心种质能够较全面的代表野杏原种质的遗传多样性;31份野杏核心种质资源,保留了原种质22.96%的样品,多态性位点、多态性位点百分率、观测等位基因数、有效等位基因数、Nei’s遗传多样性指数和Shannon信息指数的保留率分别达到92.69%、98.83%、99.42%、103.26%、109.24%和108.31%。【结论】采用位点优先法和Nei & Li遗传距离进行多次聚类,是较适宜的构建新疆野杏核心种质的方法,构建的31份核心种质能最大程度代表原种质的遗传多样性,同时本研究所采用的方法对其他作物核心种质的构建具有重要的参考价值。     

基于表型和SSR分子标记构建芝麻核心种质

【目的】便于管理、研究和利用芝麻种质资源,为芝麻育种提供优异基因资源。【方法】利用新收集和种质库保存的5 020份芝麻种质资源为基础,首先基于标准化的表型数据按地理来源分组后采用组内比例法聚类抽样构建初级核心种质,然后基于SSR分子标记应用位点优先取样策略逐步聚类,使用t检验检测每次聚类形成的核心种质与初级核心种质的Nei’s基因多样度(He)和Shannon-Wiener指数(I),直到核心种质的遗传多样性与初级核心种质开始有显著差异时,终止多次聚类取样,选择上一个与初级核心资源没有显著差异的核心种质作为最佳核心种质。利用Nei’s多样性指数、Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、多态条带百分率(PB,%)、多态条带保留率(PBR,%)、变异系数符合率(VR)、极差符合率(CR)、方差差异百分率(VD,%)、均值差异百分率(MD,%)等参数进行核心种质代表性检验和评价。【结果】构建了含有816份资源的初级核心种质和含有501份资源的核心种质,分别占全部种质资源的16.25%和9.98%;核心种质包括国内资源442份,国外资源59份;Nei's基因多样度(0.2789)和Shannon-Wiener指数(0.4243)在P0.05概率条件下与初级核心资源(He=0.2791,I=0.4302)无显著性差异,多态条带百分率(PB,%)、多态条带保留率(PBR,%)、变异系数符合率(VR)、极差符合率(CR)分别为91.25%、95.23%、99.14%、86.85%。方差差异百分率(VD,%)和均值差异百分率(MD,%)均为0。t测验结果表明,核心种质的遗传多样性指数与原始种质差异不显著。位点优先取样策略构建的核心种质比对照随机取样策略丢失的多态性位点数少,且同一遗传距离下位点优先取样策略构建的核心种质具有更高的遗传多样性,更能构建一个具有代表性的核心种质,Shannon-Wiener多样性指数比Nei’s多样性指数检测效率高。【结论】基于地理来源分组,组内按表型数据聚类按比例法抽样构建芝麻初级核心种质,再结合SSR分子标记数据,采用SM相似系数进行UPGMA逐步聚类是构建芝麻核心种质较适宜的方法,所构建的核心种质较好地代表了基础种质的遗传多样性。     

SRAP分子标记分析广西糯玉米地方品种的遗传多样性

【目的】研究广西糯玉米地方品种的遗传多样性,初步划分类群,为其改良和创新利用提供参考。【方法】利用SRAP分子标记技术对广西49个糯玉米地方品种进行遗传多样性分析及杂种优势群划分。【结果】49份糯玉米地方品种被划分为5个类群,广西特别是广西西部和北部糯玉米地方品种具有丰富的遗传多样性;百色和河池地区大部分地方品种被划分在同一类群,这些糯玉米地方品种具有较强的区域性,即同一地区大部分糯玉米地方品种亲缘关系较近,且相邻的百色和河池地区的大部分糯玉米地方品种亲缘关系也较近。【结论】广西糯玉米地方品种具有较丰富的遗传多样性,且这些地方品种的遗传类群与地理来源和地理环境有较大关系。     

基于地理种源分组和表型数据构建尾叶桉核心种质

建立尾叶桉的核心种质可以快速、准确地从丰富的尾叶桉种质资源中鉴定出育种上迫切需要的优异基因源。鉴于此,以尾叶桉家系表型性状的均值、方差、极差、变异系数和平均多样性指数5个参数作为评价指标,按照不同取样比例,筛选尾叶桉初级核心种质;然后按照地理种源分组,利用均值差异百分率、变异系数变化率、极差符合率、方差差异百分率4个参数对不同取样比例下的核心种质进行比较分析,以最小距离逐步取样法构建尾叶桉二级核心种质,共得188份,占资源总量的10%,且与控制不同性状表型相关的遗传特性在核心种质中也得到了较好的保持。所构建的尾叶桉二级核心种质可以作为整体资源的代表性样本。