Genetic diversity in Apium graveolens and related species revealed by SRAP and SSR markers

Genetic diversity is essential to crop improvement. However, lack of molecular markers prevents the understanding of genetic diversity in celery and related species. In this study, SRAP and SSR markers was firstly used to evaluate genetic variation in 68 accessions of Apium graveolens and related species. A total of 888 bands were generated by 40 primer combinations of SRAP and 32 bands were produced by eight SSR markers. Of the 920 bands, 95.1% were polymorphic between A. graveolens and related species, and 49.2% were polymorphic within A. graveolens. Cluster and structure analysis could distinguish local celery, celery, and related species. These results suggested that both SRAP and SSR technologies can be efficiently used to characterize genetic variation and analyze genetic relationship in celery and related species.