Allozyme diversity of Russian wildrye accessions

Analysis of genetic diversity among plant accessions plays an important role in developing strategies for plant breeding and the conservation of genetic resources. Therefore, we sought to estimate the extent of genetic diversity present among and within 29 Russian wildrye accessions, which were collected from widespread geographic sites. We assessed the genetic diversity of eight enzymes found in 29 Russian wildrye accessions using vertical polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The genetic diversity of each accession was estimated from standard genetic parameters that included (1) the number of polymorphic loci; (2) the average number of alleles per locus; (3) the observed and expected heterozygosity. The eight enzymes were encoded by 13 putative loci and 46 alleles. Allozyme analyses revealed a large number of polymorphic loci among the 29 accessions and some of the accessions carry rare alleles and trace their origin to sites in Xinjiang, China, where Russian wildrye is indigenous. The accessions with rare alleles require additional evaluation to determine whether they possess unique phenotypic traits which would be useful in applied plant breeding.