Population Structure and Genetic Diversity in Korean Cowpea Germplasm Based on SNP Markers

Abstract

Cowpea is one of the most essential legume crops providing inexpensive dietary protein and nutrients. The aim of this study was to understand the genetic diversity and population structure of global and Korean cowpea germplasms. A total of 384 cowpea accessions from 21 countries were genotyped with the Cowpea iSelect Consortium Array containing 51,128 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). After SNP filtering, a genetic diversity study was carried out using 35,116 SNPs within 376 cowpea accessions, including 229 Korean accessions. Based on structure and principal component analysis, a total of 376 global accessions were divided into four major populations. Accessions in group 1 were from Asia and Europe, those in groups 2 and 4 were from Korea, and those in group 3 were from West Africa. In addition, 229 Korean accessions were divided into three major populations (Q1, Jeonra province; Q2, Gangwon province; Q3, a mixture of provinces). Additionally, the neighbor-joining tree indicated similar results. Further genetic diversity analysis within the global and Korean population groups indicated low heterozygosity, a low polymorphism information content, and a high inbreeding coefficient in the Korean cowpea accessions. The population structure analysis will provide useful knowledge to support the genetic potential of the cowpea breeding program, especially in Korea.

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] Germplasm Collected from Togo Based on DArT Markers

“…However, when considered by region, the markers were most informative for RM, RP and ITRA (PIC ≥ 0.25) and slightly informative for RS, RK and RC. The mean PIC value in this study was similar to the one obtained by Seo et al [49], who reported a mean PIC value of 0.287 when assessing Korean cowpea germplasm based on SNP markers.…”

Development of a core set of single nucleotide polymorphism markers for genetic diversity analysis and cultivar fingerprinting in cowpea

“…Assessment of genetic diversity in crop germplasm is essential for successful crop improvement (Varshney et al, 2007). In cowpea, the genetic diversity of different germplasm collections in Ghana, China, the United States, Korea, and Ethiopia has been evaluated using different SNP markers (Egbadzor et al, 2014; Ketema et al, 2020; Muňoz‐Amatriaín et al, 2017; Seo et al, 2020; Xu et al, 2017). Most studies aimed to evaluate the extent and pattern of genetic diversity in their own research collections and developed core collections as subsets.…”

Genetic Diversity Analysis of Korean Peanut Germplasm Using 48 K SNPs ‘Axiom_Arachis’ Array and Its Application for Cultivar Differentiation

“…To investigate the optimal number of population (K) subsets in STRUCTURE, LnP(D) and ΔK were selected [19,49]. In the STRUCTURE, LnP(D) representing the maximum likelihood can be obtained based on the K value.…”