Open AccessGenetic diversity and population structure analysis in a large collection of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) germplasm worldwide
Author(s) -
Feifei Wu,
Sainan Ma,
Jie Zhou,
Chongyang Han,
Ruchang Hu,
Xinying Yang,
Gang Nie,
Xinquan Zhang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
peerj
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.927
H-Index - 70
ISSN - 2167-8359
DOI - 10.7717/peerj.11325
Subject(s) - germplasm , upgma , genetic diversity , trifolium repens , analysis of molecular variance , biology , microsatellite , population , white (mutation) , genetic variation , genetic structure , agronomy , allele , genetics , demography , sociology , gene
White clover is an important temperate legume forage with high nutrition. In the present study, 448 worldwide accessions were evaluated for the genetic variation and polymorphisms using 22 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. All the markers were highly informative, a total of 341 scored bands were amplified, out of which 337 (98.83%) were polymorphic. The PIC values ranged from 0.89 to 0.97 with an average of 0.95. For the AMOVA analysis, 98% of the variance was due to differences within the population and the remaining 2% was due to differences among populations. The white clover accessions were divided into different groups or subgroups based on PCoA, UPGMA, and STRUCTURE analyses. The existence of genetic differentiation between the originally natural and introduced areas according to the PCoA analysis of the global white clover accessions. There was a weak correlation between genetic relationships and geographic distribution according to UPGMA and STRUCTURE analyses. The results of the present study will provide the foundation for future breeding programs, genetic improvement, core germplasm collection establishment for white clover.