Genetic Diversity of Wild Pear Accessions Collected in Korea

Abstract

The objective of this study was carried out to assess genetic diversity of Korean local accessions of wild pear using morphological traits and microsatellite markers. Assessment of 14 phenotypic traits showed high variation among wild pear accessions. These parameters were not applicable genetic diversity analysis of wild pear collection due to quantitatively inherit and their expression is affected by environmental factors. Microsatellite markers were used to evaluate the genetic similarity of 62 accessions. Among 50 tested SSR markers, 16 primer pairs were selected to profile genetic diversity on the basis of high level polymorphism. These microsatellite markers showed 1 or 2 discrete amplified fragment for all of the accessions. The sixteen microsatellite loci amplified 278 alleles, with 10 to 27 alleles (average 17.385) per locus. The mean of observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information content were 0.776 and 0.836, respectively. The Jaccard's similarity coefficient ranged from 0.09 to 1.00. Two major groups were produced from all the accessions by UPGMA cluster analysis. Fifty five accessions could be discriminated except for 2 pairs. These results would be provided useful information about valuable genetic resources though assessment of genetic diversity and relationship in local pear accessions.