Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2008, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (4): 938-950.DOI: 10.3773/j.issn.1005-264x.2008.04.024

• Original article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

EVALUATION OF GENETIC DIVERSITY BY SSR MARKERS FOR NATURAL POPULATIONS OF WILD SOYBEAN (GLYCINE SOJA) GROWING IN THE REGION OF BEIJING, CHINA

YAN Mao-Fen, LI Xiang-Hua, WANG Ke-Jing()   

  1. Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
  • Received:2006-10-18 Accepted:2007-11-06 Online:2008-10-18 Published:2008-07-30
  • Contact: WANG Ke-Jing

Abstract:

Aims Wild soybean (Glycine soja) is commonly accepted as the progenitor species of the cultivated soybean (Giycine max). It contains many characters potentially valuable for supplementing the soybean germplasm pool, yet little research has been done on genetic diversity in natural populations of wild soybean in China. Our objective was to evaluate genetic diversity in natural populations of wild soybean growing in the region of Beijing, China.

Methods We sampled ten representative natural populations in 2005. Every sampled population consisted of 28-30 individuals and was over 10 m apart. Forty public SSR primer pairs over the 20 linkage groups were applied to evaluate genetic diversity.

Important findings A total of 526 alleles (bands) were detected with an average number of 13.15 per locus. Mean expected heterozygosity per locus (He) was 0.369 for the populations, and the mean Shannon index (I) for the populations was 0.658. Mean observed heterozygosity per locus (Ho) for the populations was 1.29%. Between-population genetic diversity (Hs) averaged 0.446, and within-population genetic diversity (DST) averaged 0.362. Mean coefficient of gene differentiation for loci (GST) in the populations was estimated to be 0.544. This study showed that the center-western ecotype had higher genetic diversity than the northern and eastern ecotypes and that there appeared to be ecogeographically genetic divergence in the natural populations between the Taihang and the Yanshan mountains. A strongly drought-tolerant population had very low genetic diversity, and its tolerance gene(s) may be exploited for breeding.

Key words: genetic diversity, SSR marker, wild soybean, Glycine soja, Beijing