ABSTRACT. Genetic maps are essential tools for quantitative trait locus analysis and marker-assisted selection breeding. In order to select parents that are highly heterozygous for genetic mapping, the heterozygosity (H S ) of 24 tea cultivars (Camellia sinensis) was analyzed with 72 simple sequence repeat markers. In total, 359 alleles were obtained with an average of 4.99 per marker. The H S varied greatly from 37.5 to 71.0% with an average of 51.3%. On average, tea cultivars from Fujian Province showed a higher level of heterozygosity (59.8%) than those from Zhejiang (48.5%) and Yunnan (44.5%), and the 12 national tea cultivars were generally more heterozygous than the 12 provincial cultivars. Unweighted pair-group analysis using the arithmetic average grouping divided the 24 cultivars into 2 groups that are consistent with the morphological classification. All dual combinations of the 24 cultivars were studied to calculate the percentage of mappable markers when using pseudo-testcross mapping strategy, and results showed that this value also varied greatly from 51.4 to 90.3%. The genetic relationships and H S differences among different cultivars were discussed, and tea cultivars with high H S were recommended as cross parents for genetic mapping programs.
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