Pawpaw [Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal.], a tree fruit native to eastern North America, is in the beginning stages of commercialization. Cultivars available in the early 20th century have been lost, and significant genetic erosion may have occurred. Polymorphic microsatellite marker loci were developed from enriched genomic libraries. Five marker loci were used to fingerprint 28 cultivars and 13 selections. For the 41 genotypes, 102 alleles were amplified and major allele frequency (0.16–0.94), number of genotypes (2–27), and allele size (144–343 bp) varied greatly by locus. Four loci were highly polymorphic, as indicated by values for expected heterozygosity (He), observed heterozygosity (Ho), and polymorphism information content, but only two alleles were detected at locus Pp-C104. A high level of genetic diversity was observed in the studied genotypes. The Ho (0.68) and He (0.70) were similar and indicated few null alleles. In the 41 genotypes, 39 unique fingerprints were observed. These new microsatellite marker loci will be useful for cultivar fingerprinting, management of collections, and investigation of genetic diversity in collections and wild populations. Grouping of genotypes in an unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean dendrogram was generally consistent with their origins.

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Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a tree fruit native to eastern North America, which is in the early stages of domestication. Most early 20th century pawpaw cultivars have been lost; however, recent cultivar releases and potential new releases may have enhanced genetic diversity. The objective of this study was to compare the genetic variation exhibited among older and new pawpaw cultivars and Kentucky State University (KSU) advanced selections using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Polymorphic microsatellite marker analysis was conducted with nine older pawpaw cultivars, six recently released PawPaw Foundation (PPF) cultivars, and nine KSU advanced selections. Using 18 microsatellite loci, a total of 179 alleles were amplified in the set of 24 genotypes. The major allele frequency (0.13 to 0.96), number of genotypes (two to 23), and allele size (96 to 341 bp) varied greatly by locus. Eighteen loci were highly polymorphic, as indicated by high expected heterozygosity (He = 0.71) and observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.65) values as well as high polymorphism information content (polymorphism information content = 0.69). The dinucleotide SSR (GA and CA motifs) loci were more polymorphic than trinucleotide (ATG and AAT motifs) SSRs. The PPF cultivars and KSU advanced selections were more closely grouped genetically than with older cultivars. Older cultivars displayed the greatest genetic diversity (Ho = 0.69). The pawpaw cultivar base of older and PPF cultivars does appear to be genetically diverse. However, KSU advanced selections contain unique pawpaw germplasm that should enhance the genetic base of cultivars if these selections are released to the public.

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