ISSR-Based Molecular Characterization of an Elite Germplasm Collection of Sweet Potato （Ipomoea batatas L.） in China

To determine the genetic diversity and population structure of sweet potato accessions cultivated in China, and to establish the genetic relationships among their germplasm types, a representative collection of 240 accessions was analyzed using inter-simple sequence repeat （ISSR） markers. The mean genetic similarity coefifcient, Nei’s gene diversity, and shared allele distance of tested sweet potato accessions were 0.7302, 0.3167 and 0.2698, respectively. The 240 accessions could be divided into six subgroups and ifve subpopulations based on neighbor-joining （NJ） clustering and STRUCTURE results, and obvious genetic relationships among the tested sweet potato accessions were identiifed. The marker-based NJ clustering and population structure showed no distinct assignment pattern corresponding to lfesh color or geographical ecotype of the tested sweet potato germplasm. Analysis of molecular variance （AMOVA） revealed small but signiifcant difference between white and orange-lfeshed sweet potato accessions. Small but signiifcant difference were also observed among sweet potato accessions from the Southern summer-autumn sweet potato region, the Yellow River Basin spring and summer sweet potato region and the Yangtze River Basin summer sweet potato region. This study demonstrates that genetic diversity in the tested sweet potato germplasm collection in China is lower than that in some reported sweet potato germplasm collections from other regions. Pedigree investigations suggest that more diverse Chinese sweet potato varieties should be formed by broadening the selection scope of breeding parents and incorporating the introduced varieties into future breeding programs.     

ISSR Analysis on Genetic Diversity of Local Varieties of Chinese Hu mulberry（Morus L.）

[Objective] The aim was to study on the genetic diversity of local varieties of Chinese Hu mulberry （Morus L.）. [Method] The genetic diversity of 141 copies of Hu mulberry varieties was analyzed by ISSR molecular markers. [Result] 12 ISSR primers had amplified a total of 90 amplified,of which 57 bands were polymorphic,and the polymorphic rate was 63.33%. The genetic similarity coefficients of 141 Hu mulberry germplasm resources varied from 0.633 3 to 1.000 0 with the average of 0.483 35,indicating that there was difference on genetic diversity among different varieties of Hu mulberries. A dendrogram of all 141 Hu mulberry varieties based on the genetic similarity coefficients using ISSR molecular markers was generated by UPGMA cluster method. Clustering of the 141 Hu mulberry varieties did not correspond with the conventional classification involving differences in style,leaf,branch,fruit and other morphological or agronomical characters. [Conclusion] Four subgroups clearly represented the genetic relationships in the 141 accessions which were benefit for the variety improvement and germplasm resource conservation.     

Research of Genetic Diversity in Seven Kobresia by AFLP in Tibetan Plateau

This work analyzed the genetic diversity of Kobresia accessions at the molecular level, and further obtained the necessary information for breeding and germplasm evaluation. Genomic DNA of Kobresia was amplified with four E＋3 and M＋3 primer combinations with AFLP （amplified fragment length polymorphism）. AFLP analysis produced 164 scorable bands, of which 154 （93.96%） were polymorphic. The mean Nei＇s gene diversity index （H） was 0.2430, and the Shannon＇s information index （I） was 0.4012, indicating the abundant genetic diversity of Kobresia. The 11 Kobresia accessions from Tibetan Plateau, China, can be classified into five groups after cluster analysis based on the UPGMA （unweigbted pair group method arithmetic average） method. In general, there was abundant genetic diversity among Kobresia accessions resources, and the genetic coefficient was unrelated to their geographic latitude. Natural habitats influenced genetic differentiation of Kobresia.     

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.     

Genetic Diversity Within a Jackfruit （Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.） Germplasm Collection in China Using AFLP Markers

Jackfruit is cross-pollinated and mostly seed propagated, a wide range of variation exists in fruit quality. With the development of efficient vegetative propagation methods, excellent genotypes selected from these seed propagated seedlings will gradually replace other genotypes in jackfruit producing areas. In this study, genetic diversity of 50 jackfruit accessions from three provinces in China was analyzed based on amplified fragment length polymorphic （AFLP） markers. A total of 320 unambiguous bands were produced by eight primer combinations, and 65 （20.3%） of them were polymorphic. Genetic similarity coefficients ranged from 0 to 0.9841, with an average of 0.5000, indicating a moderate genetic diversity in this collection. The dendrogram derived by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean algorithm （UPGMA） analysis revealed five groups, and no correlation between genetic relationship and geographical origin were found. Accessions of soft and firm flesh type were not clustered into distinct groups, neither could yearly bearing once, or twice fruit accessions. This study has provided useful information for collection and preservation of jackfruit germplasm worldwide.     

An assessment of the genetic diversity of pear(Pyrus L.) germplasm resources based on the fruit phenotypic traits全文替换

Germplasm resources are an important basis for genetic breeding and analysis of complex traits, and research on genetic diversity is conducive to the exploration and creation of new types of germplasm. In this study, the distribution frequency, coefficient of variation, Shannon–Wiener index, and variance and cluster analyses were used to analyze the diversity and trait differences of 39 fruit phenotypic traits from 570 pear accessions, which included 456 pear accessions from 11 species and 114 i...     

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.     

The Mining of Citrus EST-SNP and Its Application in Cultivar Discrimination

Single nucleotide polymorphisms （SNPs） are the most abundant sequence variations found in plant genomes and are widely used as molecular genetic markers in cultivar identification and genetic diversity studies. The objective of this study was to identify SNP markers useful for discrimination of citrus cultivars, since large numbers of expressed sequence tags （ESTs） of sweet orange are available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information （NCBI）. We now have the opportunity to discover SNP markers suitable for determining the haplotypes with which to distinguish very closely related cultivars and to assess genetic diversity within or between related species of citrus. SNPs and small insertions/deletions （Indels） from ESTs of sweet orange and satsuma were identified by the in silico SNP discovery strategy. 55 296 EST sequences of sweet orange and 2 575 of satsuma retrieved from the NCBI repository were mined for potential SNPs. Cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences （CAPS） and sequencing approaches were used to validate putative SNPs in a sample of 30 citrus accessions. A total of 3 348 putative SNPs were identified based on the abundance of sequences and haplotype cosegregation. Of these 3 348 SNPs, the transitions, transversions and Indels ratios were 47.9, 36.1 and 16.0%, respectively. The SNPs occurred on average at a frequency of 1 per 164 bp in the coding region of citrus. 14 SNPs were randomly selected and genotyped according to 30 citrus accessions including 23 accessions of sweet orange; 11 SNPs displayed polymorphism with an average polymorphism information content （PIC） of 0.20 among 30 citrus accessions. The genetic diversity present in sweet orange was low, so the 14 SNP markers failed to discriminate different cultivars of sweet orange, but they did succeed in distinguishing accessions of inter-species of citrus. In this study, SNPs were mined from EST sequences of sweet orange and satsuma, which displayed potential capability as molecular markers to discriminate inter-species accessions of citrus. It is anticipated that these putative SNPs could be applied in citrus genetics research and breeding.     

The Impact of US and CGIAR Germplasm on Maize Production in China

Wide adoption of a few kinds of homogeneous germplasm would reduce crop genetic diversity, increase crop vulnerability to stresses, and reduce the stability of crop production. The introduction and utilization of foreign germplasm is a sustainable solution for broadening the genetic diversity and promoting periodical replacement of varieties. The genetic contribution and economic impact of foreign germplasm, particularly those of US and CGIAR （Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, referred to as the CG system） materials, on China＇s maize production are evaluated on the basis of an analysis of variety pedigree information from 20 major maize-producing provinces in China from 1982 to 1997. The results indicated that the contribution of US and CG germplasm to Chinese maize production continues to increase, particularly CG germplasm, which has shown a rapid increasing trend since the 1990s. If the genetic contribution of US germplasm is increased by 1%, maize yield will gain by 0.2% （0.01 t ha^-1）. If contribution of CG germplasm, which has greater production potential, is increased by 1%, maize yield will gain by 0.025 t ha^-1. A policy should be implicated by the government in this direction to encourage breeders to focus more on the use and improvement of CG germplasm. The US germplasm has been utilized extensively in China so that it can offer germplasm resources for maize breeding efforts.     

Genetic Diversity Based on AIIozyme Alleles of Chinese Cultivated Rice

Genetic diversity was analyzed with 6 632 core rice cultivars selected from 60 282 Chinese rice accessions on the basis of 12 allozyme loci, Pgil, Pgi2, Amp1, Amp2, Amp3, Amp4, Sdhl, Adhl, Estl, Est2, Est5 and Est9, by starch gel electrophoresis. Among the materials examined, 52 alleles at 12 polymorphic loci were identified, which occupied 96.3% of 54 alleles found in cultivated germplasm of O. sativa L. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 7 with an average of 4.33. The gene diversity （He） each locus varied considerably from 0.017 for Amp4 to 0.583 for Est2 with an average gene diversity （Ht） 0.271, mid Shannon-Wiener index from 0.055 to 0.946 with an average of 0.468. The degree of polymorphism （DP） was in a range from 0.9 to 46.9% with an average of 21.4%. It was found that the genetic diversity in japonica （Keng） subspecies was lower in terms of allele＇s number, Ht and S-W index, being 91.8, 66.2 and 75.7% of indica （Hsien） one, respectively. Significant genetic differentiation between indica and japonica rice has been appeared in the loci Pgil, Amp2, Pgi2, and Est2, with higher average coefficient of genetic differentiation （Gst） 0.635, 0.626, 0.322 and 0.282, respectively. Except less allele number per locus （3.33） for modern cultivars, being 76.9% of landraces, the Ht and S-W index showed in similar between the modem cultivars and the landraces detected. In terms of allozyme, the rice cultivars in the Southwest Plateau and Central China have richer genetic diversity. The present study reveals again that Chinese cultivated rice germplasm has rich genetic diversity, showed by the allozyme allele variation.     

Genetic Diversity of Recurrent Selection Populations with Ms2 Gene Assessed by Gliadins in Common Wheat （Triticum aestivum L.）

The male-sterile lines with Ms2 gene were highly evaluated in recurrent selection in wheat （Triticum aestivum L.）. Three populations C6 （population after six cycles of selection）, C7 （population after seven cycles of selection）, and C8 （population after eight cycles of selection） were constructed through recurrent selection with 12 parental materials （P）. Acid polyacrymide gel electrophoresis （A-PAGE） analysis was used to identify gliadin patterns and evaluate the genetic diversity in 12 parents and three populations. A total of 63 bands were identified, of which 17 polymorphic bands and 7 unique bands were present in populations and seven polymorphic bands and four unique bands were present in parents. The number of polymorphic and unique bands decreased gradually from C6 to C8, especially for to- and y-gliadins. The genetic distances in C6, C7, and C8 were calculated. The distributions of genetic distance were different in three recurrent selection populations. From C6 to C8, the genetic distance was 0.2687, 0.2652 and 0.1987, respectively. Statistically significant differences were detected between C7 and C8 with the T value of 37.9718. The result of cluster analysis based on genetic similarity matrix of three populations fitted well to those of principle coordinates analysis （PCoA）. Compared with 12 parents, almost all individuals of three populations are new genotypes. Most of the individuals from C6 and C7 could be divided into two groups, while most individuals of C8 were in one cluster. In conclusion, the results indicated that the genetic diversity was decreased severely according to the information revealed by A-PAGE, although some variations could be created in the recurrent selection. It was necessary to introduce diverse germplasm based on the genetic database of recurrent population to maintain and improve the breeding efficiency in the further program.     

Effect of Long-Term in Vitro Sub-culturing on Quality Degeneration of Sweet Potato Varieties： Morpho- Anatomic Assessment and Simple Sequence Repeats Analysis

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of long-term in vitro sub-culturing on the varietal degeneration of three sweet potato varieties, namely, Monate, Mokone and Ndou which were sub-cultured for 32, 23 and 12 generations, respectively. Each generation was cultured in a media which is made from 4.43 g/L Murashige and Skoog （MS）, 30 g/L sucrose and 2 g/L gelrite, respectively, and grown under 16 h light and 8 h dark photoperiod for 30 d. For each generation, 45 plantlets were acclimatized for two months in a glasshouse. Data on in vitro growth performance and 11 morphological characteristics during acclimatization were recorded. Early root and shoot formation was observed after the 27th and 21st sub-cultured generations of Monate and Mokone, respectively. During acclimatization, plantlets from the same variety showed differences in morphological traits such as leaf colour, abaxial leaf pigmentation, vine pigmentation, petiole pigmentation, leaf wrinkling and flowering. However, the rate of these morphological differences is random and irrespective to increase in sub-culturing. Therefore, to understand the genetic base of these morphological variability, two plantlets from each variety were subjected to genetic analysis by using five simple sequence repeat （SSR） primers （IB-242, IB-318, IB-255F, 1B-248 and IB-255）. Although SSR loci IB-255F and IB-318 could distinguish between the three varieties, there were no allelic polymorphisms detected in plantlets from the same varieties. Therefore, long-term sub-culturing do not leads to quality degeneration in the three sweet potato varieties.     

Molecular diversity and genetic structure of 380 sweetpotato accessions as revealed by SSR markers

Sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas(L.) Lam., is an important food crop widely cultivated in the world. Evaluation of genetic relationships among diverse cultivars and landraces is necessary for efficient exploitation of genetic diversity in the existing germplasm resources. In the present study, a collection of 380 sweetpotato accessions assembled from different agro-climatic zones of China and other countries were genotyped using 30 SSR primer pairs. Model-based structure analysis separated the germplasm into three populations, P1, P2 and P3, containing 228, 133 and 19 accessions, respectively, which was consistent with the results of phylogenic and principal component analysis(PCA). Analysis of molecular variance(AMOVA) revealed significant genetic differentiation among inferred populations, accounting for 16.47% of the total molecular variance, however, the differences between the regions were not significant, the total variation were due to the differences between the genotypes within the population. Pairwise fixation index(F ST) suggested that populations P1 and P3 had the highest differentiation, while populations P1 and P2 had the lowest differentiation. The diversity among populations was wide, which confirmed the genetic distinction of populations. Through comparing model-based structure and domestication-based classification, it was found that the accessions of population P1 mainly belonged to modern cultivars, and the accessions of populations P2 and P3 basically corresponded to landraces, by which we suggest that modern cultivars maybe had experienced a two-step domestication history. Our results illustrated clear genetic relationships among 380 sweetpotato accessions, exhibiting the potential of accelerating the process of future sweetpotato breeding program by molecular marker based parental selection.     

Identification and Analysis of Genetic Diversity Structure Within Pisum Genus Based on Microsatellite Markers

To assesse the genetic diversity among wild and cultivated accessions of 8 taxonomic groups in 2 species, and 5 subspecies under Pisum genus, and to analyze population structure and their genetic relationships among various groups of taxonomy, the study tried to verify the fitness of traditionally botanical taxonomic system under Pisum genus and to provide essential information for the exploration and utilization of wild relatives of pea genetic resources. 197 Pisum accessions from 62 counties of 5 continents were employed for SSR analysis using 21 polymorphic primer pairs in this study. Except for cultivated field pea Pisum sativum ssp. sativum var. sativum （94 genotypes）, also included were wild relative genotypes that were classified as belonging to P. fulvum, P. sativum ssp.abyssinicum, P. sativum ssp. asiaticum, P. sativum ssp. transcaucasicum, P. sativum ssp. elatius var. elatius, P. sativum ssp. elatius var. pumilio and P. sativum ssp. sativum var. arvense （103 genotypes）. The PCA analyses and 3-dimension PCA graphs were conducted and drawn by NTSYSpc 2.2d statistical package. Nei78 genetic distances among groups of genetic resources were calculated, and cluster analysis using UPGMA method was carried out by using Popgene V1.32 statistical package, the dendrogram was drawn by MEGA3.1 statistical package. Allelic statistics were carried out by Popgene V1.32. The significance test between groups of genotypes was carried out by Fstat V2.9.3.2 statistical package. 104 polymorphic bands were amplified using 21 SSR primer pairs with unambiguous unique polymorphic bands. 4.95 alleles were detected by each SSR primer pair in average, of which 65.56% were effective alleles for diversity. PSAD270, PSAC58, PSAA18, PSAC75, PSAA175 and PSAB72 were the most effective SSR pairs. SSR alleles were uniformly distributed among botanical taxon units under Pisum genus, but significant difference appeared in most pairwise comparisons for genetic diversity between taxon unit based groups of genetic resources. Genetic diversity level of wild species P. fulvum was much lower than the cultivated species P. sativum. Under species P. sativum, P. sativum ssp. sativum var. sativum and P. sativum ssp. asiaticum were the highest in gentic diversity, followed by P. sativum ssp. elatius var. elatius and P. sativum ssp. transcaucasicum, P. sativum ssp. elatius var. pumilio, P. sativum ssp. sativum vat. arvense and P. sativum ssp. abyssinicum were the lowest. Four gene pool clusters were detected under Pisum genus by using PCA analysis. Gene pool ＂fulvum＂ mainly consisted of wild species Pisum fulvum, gene pool ＂abyssinicum＂ mainly consisted of P. sativum ssp. abyssinicum, and gene pool ＂arvense＂ mainly consisted of P. sativum ssp. sativum var. arvense. While gene pool ＂sativum＂ were composed by 5 botanical taxon units, they are P. sativum ssp. asiaticum, P. sativum ssp. elatius var. elatius, P. sativum ssp. transcaucasicum, P. sativum ssp. elatius var. pumilio and P. sativum ssp. sativum var. sativum. ＂sativum＂ gene pool constructed the primary gene pool of cultivated genetic resources; ＂fulvum＂ gene pool, ＂abyssinicum＂ gene pool and ＂arvense＂ gene pool together constructed the secondary gene pool of cultivated genetic resources. Pairwise Nei78 genetic distance among botanical taxon based groups of pea genetic resources ranged from 7.531 to 35.956, 3 large cluster groups were identified based on the UPGMA dendrogram. Group Ⅰ equals to ＂sativum＂ and ＂arvense＂ gene pools, Group Ⅱ equals to ＂abyssinicum＂ gene pool, and Group Ⅲ equals to ＂fulvum＂ gene pool. The UPGMA clustering results generally supporting the PCA clusting results. There were significant differences among most botanical groups under Pisum genus, with clear separation of four gene pools for genetic diversity structure. The research results partially support the traditional botanical taxonomy under Pisum genus, and pointed out its advantage and shortcoming. In order to broaden the genetic bases of pea varieties, the genetic potentials in the four gene pools should be thoroughly exploited.     

Genetic Diversity of European and Chinese Oilseed Brassica rapa Cultivars from Different Breeding Periods

The Brassica oilseed crops went through two major breeding bottlenecks during the introgression of genes for zero erucic acid and low glucosinolate content, respectively, which may lead to reduced genetic biodiversity of the crop. This study investigates the impact of these bottlenecks on the genetic diversity within and across European and Chinese winter B. rapa cultivars. We compared eight cultivars from Europe and China, representing three different seed qualities from three different breeding periods： （1） high erucic acid, high glucosinolates （＋＋）; （2） zero erucic acid, high glucosinolates（0＋）; （3） zero erucic acid, low glucosonolates （00, canola quality）. Diversity was estimated on 32 plants per cultivar, with 16 simple sequence repeat （SSR） markers covering each of the B. rapa linkage groups. The analysis of molecular variance （AMOVA） showed that genetic variations within cultivars, across cultivars and across regions （Europe and China） were significant, with about 60% of the total variation within cultivars. There was a slight, but non-significant loss in genetic diversity within cultivars when comparing the three breeding periods as indicated by effective number of alleles （2.39, 2.23, and 1.99 for breeding periods 1, 2, and 3, respectively）, Shannon information index （0.93, 0.90, 0.75）, and expected heterozygosity （0.51, 0.49, 0.42）. By cluster analysis （UPGMA dendrogram） and principal coordinate analysis, Chinese and European cultivars were clearly divided into two distinct groups. In conclusion, quality improvement did not significantly reduce the genetic diversity of European and Chinese B. rapa cultivars.     

Identification and Preliminary Analysis of the Genetic Diversity of Cenococcum geophilum Fr.

To identify Cenococcum geophilum Fr., estimate their genetic diversity and study the effects on their genetic variation, 27 Chinese C. geophilum isolates from 6 host plant species and 5 French C. geophilum isolates were analyzed using morphological and molecular methods. The universal primers ITS1/ITS4 were used in PCR-RFLP to amplify the rDNA internal transcribed spacer （ITS） of tested C. geophilum isolates. The amplified products were digested with EcoR Ⅰ, Hinf Ⅰ, and Mbo Ⅰ, and the digested fragments of PCR products showed that there were obvious differences. A random primer （5′-CGCACCGCAC-3′） was employed in RAPD to amplify the genomic DNA of C. geophilum, and 19 detectable and reliable DNA bands of 300-2000 bp size were observed. According to the number, position, and strength of the DNA bands in agarose gel, the genetic distance and the genetic similarity among C. geophilum isolates were calculated using the PopGen Ver. 1.31 dendrogram analysis software. A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the genetic distance by the Neighbor-Joining/UPGMA in PHYLIP. The results suggest the high level of genetic diversity among C. geophilum isolates from the same or different hosts. The effects of geographical factors or host plant species on C. geophilum genetic variation are not obvious.     

Assessment of the Genetic Relationship and Diversity of Mango and Its Relatives by cplSSR Marker

Chloroplast inter-simple sequence repeat markers in mango were developed and used to analyze the genetic relationship and diversity of mango and its relatives. Thirty-six mango cultivars （Mangifera indica L.） and its relative species collected from the fruit germplasm collection in the Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China, were examined by ISSR-PCR with chloroplast DNA （cpDNA）. Eight better primers for chloroplast DNA that provided reproducible, polymorphic DNA amplification patterns were screened from 50 ISSR primers and used for UPGMA analysis. According to the band patterns with 8 primers for chloroplast DNA, all cultivars tested were distinguished from each other and these showed ample genetic diversity; the average percentage of polymorphism was 77.2%. The 36 samples could be clustered into four groups by UPGMA analysis at the coefficient 0.74. The results indicated that the cplSSR marker was a new powerful tool for the identification of mango cultivars or its relative species, and their genetic relationship analysis and diversity evaluation.     

A Discussion on Possible Indicators Related to Genetic Structure Changesin Plant Germplasm Conservation

The purpose of the present paper is to study and develop indicators and procedures for the evaluation of genetic structure changes in germplasm conservation due to social and natural environment reasons. Some basic concepts in gerniglasm study were introduced at first. Then, six kinds of indicators forgenetic diversity as a measure of genetic potential of a germplasm collection were presented, i.e.,numbers of different entities at certain level, evenness of the entity distribution, geneticsimilarity and genetic distance, genetic variance and genetic coefficient of variation, multivariategenetic variation indices, and coefficient of parentage. It was pointed out that genetic dispersiondid not provide a complete concept of genetic diversity if without any information from geneticrichness. Based on the above, the indicators for genetic erosion as the genetic structure changes ofgermplasm conservation due to social reasons, the indicators of genetic vulnerability as the geneticstructure changes of germplasm conservation due to environmental stresses, the measurement of geneticdrift and genetic shift as the genetic structure changes of germplasm collection during reproductionor seed increase were reviewed and developed. Furthermore, the estimation procedures of the indicatorsby using molecular markers were suggested. Finally, the case studies on suitable conservation samplesize of self-pollinated and open-pollinated populations were given for reference.     

Characterization of the petiole length in soybean compact architecture mutant M657 and the breeding of new lines

Phenotypic screening of soybean germplasm suitable for high planting density is currently the most viable strategy to increase yield. Previous studies have shown that soybean varieties with dwarf features and a short petiole often exhibit a compact plant architecture which could improve yield through increased planting density, although previously reported short petiole accessions were ultimately not usable for breeding in practice. Here, we established a method to assess petiole length and iden...