Genetic diversity among argentine garlic clones cultivars (Allium sativum l.) revealed by using SSR marker analysis

BARBOZA-ROJAS, K.; GALMARINI, C. R.; CAVAGNARO, P. F.

Congreso; XXXIV Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2016

Garlic is an asexually propagated crop, presenting abundant morphological variation. This species represents one of the main exported vegetable products of Argentina. Purple, red and white type garlics are grown and consumed in the country.In this study, the genetic diversity of 21 Argentine garlic cultivars was evaluated using 14 polymorphic SSR markers. In total, 36 alleles were detected with an average of 2.6 alleles per locus. The allele number per locus ranged from 2 to 4. Observed (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0 to 1 and 0.3 to 0.7, respectively. The Polymorphic Index Content (PIC) varied from 0.2 to 0.6, with a mean of 0.4 for the 14 loci tested. Our study revealed considerable genetic variation among the garlic cultivars tested, with a range of 38-100%. The UPGMA dendrogram constructed with all 14 polymorphic SSRs revealed the existence of six arbitrary groups at 0.59 similarity coefficient, and showed clustering of the genotypes according to their physiological groups (at 0.59 similarity) and the flowering behavior (softneck versus hardneck types) (at 0.51 similarity). This study represents the first genotyping and genetic diversity analysis of Argentine garlic cultivars using microsatellite markers.