Molecular diversity and relationships among Cymbidium goeringii cultivars based on inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers

Abstract

Spring orchid (Cymbidium goeringii) is a popular flowering plant species. There have been few molecular studies of the genetic diversity and conservation genetics on this species. An assessment of the level of genetic diversity in cultivated spring orchid would facilitate development of the future germplasm conservation for cultivar improvement. In the present study, DNA markers of intersimple sequence repeats (ISSR) were identified and the ISSR fingerprinting technique was used to evaluate genetic diversity in C. goeringii cultivars. Twenty-five ISSR primers were selected to produce a total of 224 ISSR loci for evaluation of the genetic diversity. A wide genetic variation was found in the 50 tested cultivars with Nei's gene diversity (H = 0.2241) and 93.75% of polymorphic loci. Fifty cultivars were unequivocally distinguished based on ISSR fingerprinting. Cultivar-specific ISSR markers were identified in seven of 50 tested cultivars. Unweighted pair-group mean analysis (UPGMA) and principal coordinates analysis (PCA) grouped them into two clusters: one composed the cultivars mainly from Japan, and the other contained three major subclusters mainly from China. Two Chinese subclusters were generally consistent with horticultural classification, and the third Chinese subcluster contained cultivars from various horticultural groups. Our results suggest that the ISSR technique provides a powerful tool for cultivar identification and establishment of genetic relationships of cultivars in C. goeringii.

High genetic differentiation among wild populations of alien Medicago sativa in Lithuania

“…In addition to using SSRs to investigate the highly variable polymorphism of microsatellite loci, ISSR markers are employed. Although ISSR is less informative than SSR by virtue of the dominant nature of ISSR markers, ISSR is still a reliable, cost effective approach that is widely used in plant studies [30][31][32][33][34].…”

Analysis of genetic diversity of Laeliinae (Orchidaceae) in the State of Sergipe using ISSR markers

“…In Cymbidium goeringii, 25 ISSR primers produced a total of 210 polymorphic fragments, with a mean number of 8.4 fragments per primer (Wang et al, 2009). In Cattleya labiata, a mean number of 12.6 polymorphic fragments per ISSR primer was obtained (151 fragments produced by 12 primers), whereas 11 fragments per primer were obtained using RAPD markers in the same species.…”

Molecular characterization of bromeliads from northeast Brazil

“…In cultivars from China, only 12 ISSR markers were used, and 342 fragments from 40 bromeliad accessions were obtained (Zhang et al, 2012). In other ornamental families, Wang et al (2009) used 25 ISSR primers to analyze the molecular diversity of 50 cultivars of Cymbidium goeringii and produced 224 fragments (94% polymorphic). Niknejad et al (2009) examined the molecular traits and phylogenetic relationships among orchid species of the Phalaenopsis genus using 10 RAPD markers, producing a total of 414 polymorphic fragments and an average of 41.4 fragments per primer; our study showed lower value, with an average of 17 fragments per primer.…”