Genetic diversity studies of alfalfa germplasm (Medicago sativa L. subsp. sativa) of United States origin using microsatellite analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the genetic diversity and population structure of alfalfa germplasm from the United States. In this study, the population structure and genetic diversity of six alfalfa cultivars of United States origin were investigated by microsatellite analysis with 40 individuals per cultivar. A total of 312 discernible alleles were amplified from the whole genome with an average of 31.2 alleles per locus. The average values of polymorphic information content and Shannon's information index were 0.928 and 0.133, respectively, showing high levels of genetic diversity. Two populations were identified by STRUCTURE software with principal coordinate analysis and neighbour-joining clustering. Analysis of molecular variance analysis (AMOVA) revealed that the majority of genetic variation was within cultivars (96.42%) rather than between cultivars (3.58%). In conclusion, analyses of genetic diversity and population structure may be useful for the genetic analysis and utilization of genetic variation in alfalfa breeding.

Genetic diversity and population structure of the sweet leaf herb, Stevia rebaudiana B., cultivated and landraces germplasm assessed by EST-SSRs genotyping and steviol glycosides phenotyping

“…As our study is the first large study on S. rebaudiana genetic resources, there is no reference study. But, similar results have been observed in other outcrossing perennials such as alfalfa ( Medicago sativa ) [29], Dalmatian Pyrethrum ( Tanacetum cinerariifolium ) [30] or agronomic switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) [31]. The high level of genetic variability observed within populations of such species is most likely due to their partial or completely allogamous reproductive systems.…”

Preliminary morphological characterization and evaluation of selected Bambara groundnut [Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.] genotypes for yield and yield related traits

“…Using alfalfa germplasm (Medicago sativa L. subsp. sativa) (Yin et al, 2018) showed that genotype diversity was due to indiscriminate introduction of from various sources. Furthermore, pairing of the genotypes was associated more to individuals with possible common origin.…”

Haploid Culture and Double Haploid Induction in Medicago sativa L. cv. XinJiangDaYe

“…Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa), a perennial cross-pollinated plant, is one of the most important forage crops in semi-arid and arid areas (Rong et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2017) with greater commercial and ecological significance (Yin et al, 2018). However, cultivated alfalfa is a self-incompatible autotetraploid (2n = 4x = 32) plant with a very complex genome that hinders efforts to genetically improve the varieties (Chen et al, 2020).…”