Molecular diversity among seven <i>Solanum </i>(eggplant and relatives) species assessed by simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers

Abstract

Seven Solanum species (eggplants) were investigated for molecular diversity. Besides its widespread cultivation, nutritional and economic importance, its genome has not been extensively researched. 39 Solanum accessions, a landrace and tomato variety (LBR 48) were molecularly analyzed by simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker technique. A dendrogram was obtained based on the Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) clustering. A total of 417 alleles were amplified with the number of alleles ranging from 5 (EM 141) to 38 (EM 120 b). Polymorphism was fairly high (0.05 to 0.92) among SSR markers with high number of repeats. Findings indicate that entries originating from different parts of the world did not form a distinct cluster, and there was no association between SSR marker pattern and geographical origin. SSR markers indicated a strong genetic affinity among S. viarum, S. melongena and S. aethiopicum Aculeatum group. Genetic relatedness between S. dasyphyllum and S. macrocarpon and between S. aethiopicum and S. macrocarpon are important for breeding. SSR markers assayed were informative for phylogenetic analysis; and have the potential to serve as perfect markers for studying variation. For plant breeders, close genetic relationships detected provide an avenue for introgression of high yielding and resistant genes into commercial and farmers’ varieties.

Key words: Simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers, genetic diversity, polymorphism, multivariate analysis, Solanum species.