Genetic diversity study of Quartin clover (Trifolium quartinianum) and Steudneri clover (Trifolium steudneri) accessions of Ethiopia using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers

Title: Genetic diversity study of Quartin clover (Trifolium quartinianum) and Steudneri clover (Trifolium steudneri) accessions of Ethiopia using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers

Abstract:

Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to assess inter and intra species genetic diversity and relationships of Trifolium steudneri and Trifolium quartinianum accessions. A total of 76 accessions representing T. steudneri (50) and T. quartinianum (26), divided into two and three populations, respectively, were used for the present study. DNA was extracted from a bulk of samples from three plants per accession using a modified CTAB method. Four di-nucleotid ISSR primers amplified 90 bands in the overall experimental materials, while the total number of bands for T. steudneri and T. quartinianum, respectively were 73 and 84. Genetic diversity was high at the genus level (PPL = 100%, h = 0.25, I = 0.39) and species level (PPL = 98.63%, h = 0.25, I = 0.38 for T. steudneri; PPL = 100%, h = 0.29, I = 0.44 for T. quartinianum). Overall, T. quartinianum showed higher genetic diversity than T. steudneri. Comparison of population-based genetic diversity showed that Gojam population was the most diverse both for T. steudneri and T. quartinianum. AMOVA revealed high level of within-population variation in both T. steudneri and T. quartinianum with 78.68% and 83.13%, respectively. This could be caused by high pollen and seed flow among-populations. AMOVA also revealed the smaller molecular variance among species which could be caused by the presence of several shared ISSR markers. UPGMA and PCO showed that most of the accessions clustered to their respective species in genus level analysis. In addition, most of T. steudneri accessions from the same population formed separate cluster, while only accessions of T. quartinianum from Gonder formed separate cluster. The study clearly indicates the presence of variable genotypes with their unique identity that deserve conservation attention.  

Keywords: Forage crops, Genetic diversity, ISSR, T. quartinianum, T. steudneri

Biography:

Tadesse Abate studied Applied Genetics at the Addis ababa University, Ethiopia and graduated as MSc in 2014. He then joined wollo university, Department of Biotechnology as lecturer and served as department head for three years and now he is serving as field and applied education officer. He has published more than 10 research articles