Genetic diversity and structure of Brazilian ginger germplasm (Zingiber officinale) revealed by AFLP markers

Abstract

Ginger is a vegetable with medicinal and culinary properties widely cultivated in the Southern and Southeastern Brazil. The knowledge of ginger species' genetic variability is essential to direct correctly future studies of conservation and genetic improvement, but in Brazil, little is known about this species' genetic variability. In this study, we analyzed the genetic diversity and structure of 55 Brazilian accessions and 6 Colombian accessions of ginger, using AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) molecular markers. The molecular characterization was based on 13 primers combinations, which generated an average of 113.5 polymorphic loci. The genetic diversity estimates of Nei (Hj), Shannon-Weiner index (I) and an effective number of alleles (n ) were greater in the Colombian accessions in relation to the Brazilian accessions. The analysis of molecular variance showed that most of the genetic variation occurred between the two countries while in the Brazilian populations there is no genetic structure and probably each region harbors 100 % of genetic variation found in the samples. The bayesian model-based clustering and the dendrogram using the dissimilarity's coefficient of Jaccard were congruent with each other and showed that the Brazilian accessions are highly similar between themselves, regardless of the geographic region of origin. We suggested that the exploration of the interspecific variability and the introduction of new varieties of Z.officinale are viable alternatives for generating diversity in breeding programs in Brazil. The introduction of new genetic materials will certainly contribute to a higher genetic basis of such crop.

Revelation of genetic diversity and structure of wild Elymus excelsus (Poaceae: Triticeae) collection from western China by SSR markers

“…Therefore, the relationship between environmental divergence and genetic distance within geographical groups were further analysed. This study did not find similar results to previous research that indicated a correlation between altitude and the genetic distance of Elymus species (Blanco et al, 2016), but there was a significant correlation between the mean rainfall during the growing season, the average annual precipitation and the genetic distance of the QTP geo-group; this result suggested that precipitation might contribute to the hierarchical structure of the accessions from Sichuan (SCC) with its high rainfall and high altitude accompanied by high evaporation (which means higher precipitation is demanded).…”

Genetic diversity and structure of Elymus tangutorum accessions from western China as unraveled by AFLP markers

“…The level of polymorphism obtained here with AFLP markers is also higher than that reported for other Elymus germplasm in western China by other types of dominant markers such as E. sibiricus by ScoT (89%) [13] and E. nutans by ISSR (91.4%) [41]. In all, the participation of polymorphic fragments largely relies on the species, origin ecogeographic area and the differentiation degree of sampled accessions, amount of primers and even type of molecular marker used [42, 43]. Moreover, as all primer combinations produced unique fragments (on average, 5 per primer), those primers could be used to differentiate particular accessions [44].…”

Introductory Chapter: Studies on Ginger

“…There are many genetic resources which were collected and preserved in the word. Zingiberis family includes about 50 genera and 1300 species of ginger which are known to exist worldwide [12][13][14][15]. They occur in different parts of the world, namely, Japan, Australia, Haiti, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.…”