Identification of unique alleles and assessment of genetic diversity of soybean genotypes using SSR markers and seed traits

Abstract

Thirty polymorphic SSR markers and seven seed traits were used to determine the genetic diversity among twenty five soybean genotypes that differ with respect to seed coat color. A total of 133 alleles were detected and the number of alleles for each SSR locus varied from two to seven with an average of 4.0. Polymorphic information content varied from 0.81 to 0.07. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient grouped the genotypes into two major clusters. To test the goodness of fit of clusters to SSR markers, cophenetic correlation was estimated. Cophenetic value of 0.98 indicated a very good fit. A combination of SSR and seed traits data grouped the genotypes into two major clusters with grouping of all the brown seeded genotypes into one subcluster. A total of 21 unique alleles were identified in twenty five soybean genotypes which is a valuable resource for DNA fingerprinting studies. A set of nine SSR markers (Satt 600, Satt 463, Satt 371, Satt 193, Satt 538, Satt 126, Satt 286, Satt 281 and Satt 656) could differentiate all the soybean genotypes.

Keywords

• genetic diversity
• ssr markers
• soybean
• unique alleles
• seed traits