Assessing the Genetic Diversity of Daylily Germplasm Using SSR Markers: Implications for Daylily Breeding
Edvinas Misiukevičius,
Birutė Frercks,
Jūratė Bronė Šikšnianienė,
Zygmunt Kącki,
Małgorzata Gębala,
Paulina Akulytė,
Emilija Trilikauskaitė,
Vidmantas Stanys
Affiliations
Edvinas Misiukevičius
Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute of Horticulture, Department of Orchard Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, Kaunas District, LT-54333 Babtai, Lithuania
Birutė Frercks
Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute of Horticulture, Department of Orchard Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, Kaunas District, LT-54333 Babtai, Lithuania
Jūratė Bronė Šikšnianienė
Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute of Horticulture, Department of Orchard Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, Kaunas District, LT-54333 Babtai, Lithuania
Zygmunt Kącki
Arboretum Wojsławice Botanical Garden, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Wroclaw, 58-230 Niemcza, Poland
Małgorzata Gębala
Arboretum Wojsławice Botanical Garden, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Wroclaw, 58-230 Niemcza, Poland
Paulina Akulytė
Institute of Biology Systems and Genetic Research, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT-50161 Kaunas, Lithuania
Emilija Trilikauskaitė
Institute of Biology Systems and Genetic Research, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT-50161 Kaunas, Lithuania
Vidmantas Stanys
Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute of Horticulture, Department of Orchard Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, Kaunas District, LT-54333 Babtai, Lithuania
This work aims to characterize the genetic diversity of species, early hybrids, and cultivars using microsatellite simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, as well as analyze and identify the origin of Hemerocallis spp. early hybrids. For this research, samples were collected from different types of daylily species, early hybrids (known or hypothetically first-generation hybrids from Hemerocallis species), foreign, and Lithuanian varieties. An initial screening of SSR primers developed for Hemerocallis citrina was performed, and their suitability for testing other daylily species and hybrids was evaluated. The genetic diversity was assessed with the selected eight-primer set, and molecular SSR profiles were created. Primer SAU00097 is the most informative according to heterozygosity (0.95) and polymorphism information content (PIC) (0.17). The highest heterozygosity was observed in Lithuanian cultivars (0.713), the lowest in species (0.583). Genetic relationships between species show that only fulvous daylilies are separated into a different cluster. The highest variation among genotypes was observed in the species group (18%), while modern cultivars had the slightest variation among genotypes (1%). The putative origin of early hybrids was analyzed using a likelihood heatmap of all genotypes. Results show what species might be used in breeding for early hybrids. Several modern diploid and tetraploid daylily cultivars have triploid species as ancestors.
