Collection and Evaluation of Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Potato Landraces and Varieties in China

Abstract

China is the world’s leading country for potato production but potato is not native to China. To gain insights into the genetic diversity of potato germplasm various studies have been performed but no study has been reported for potato landraces in China. To improve the available genepool for future potato breeding programs, a diverse population containing 292 genotypes (including foreign elite lines, local landraces and cultivars) was developed and genotyped using 30 SSR markers covering the entire potato genome. A total of 174 alleles were detected with an average of 5.5 alleles per locus. The model-based structure analysis discriminated the population into two main sub-groups, which can be further subdivided into seven groups based on collection sites. One sub-group (P1) revealed less genetic diversity than other (P2) and contained a higher number of commercial cultivars possibly indicating a slight reduction in diversity due to selection in breeding programs. The P2 sub-group showed a wider range of genetic diversity with more new and unique alleles attained from wild relatives. The potato landraces, clustered in sub-population P1 may be derived from historical population imported from ancient European and International Potato Center genotypes while sub-population P2 may be derived from modern populations from International Potato Center and European genotypes. It is proposed that in the first step, the potato genotypes were introduced from Europe to China, domesticated as landraces, and then hybridized for modern cultivars.

Genetic analysis of a potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) breeding collection for southern Colombia using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers

“…The analysis of the population structure of the potato genetic breeding collection at the Universidad de Nariño based on the Bayesian analyses of the STRUCTURE and PCA program identified two and three possible subpopulations associated with the ploidy level, where diploid genotypes separated from tetraploids, and, according to the geographical origin, the tetraploid genotypes of Colombia separated from those of Peru. Multiple studies have described the use of molecular markers to classify and separate potato genetic materials conserved in germplasm banks according to their ploidy level [17-19, 42, 43] and the degree of genetic breeding to discriminate materials according to the varieties, cultivars, elite materials, wild species and/ or related species [17,42,[44][45][46].…”

Genetic diversity and population structure of the Mediterranean sesame core collection with use of genome-wide SNPs developed by double digest RAD-Seq

“…Therefore, the identification of genetically distant accessions (such as ACS 65–ACS 87) for hybridization in sesame breeding programs has the potential to lead to the development of elite varieties. The degree of genetic relationship and differentiation among genetic resources can broaden genetic diversity can also be used to combine alleles for valuable agricultural traits [75]. For example, the accession ACS 8 from Afghanistan was extremely distinct from the groups, but it had a high seed yield [15].…”

Recent Large-Scale Genotyping and Phenotyping of Plant Genetic Resources of Vegetatively Propagated Crops

“…Recent threats to cultivated potato like climate change and pathogen pressure have increased the interest in wild relatives, related species and native landraces with a potential for providing valuable sources for breeding programs [ 130 , 131 , 132 ]. Diploid Solanum species are of interest, and some like S. chacoense Bitter are already used in potato breeding [ 133 ].…”