Genetic diversity of tea plant resources in Shiqian based on SSR molecular markers
[Objective]The genetic diversity and kinship of tea germplasm resources in Shiqian were explored to provide theoretical basis for the development and protection of tea germplasm resources in Shiqian.[Method]The SSR molecular marker technology was used to analyze the polymorphism,genetic diversity and genetic relationship of 122 tea tree resources from 7 populations in Shiqian,Guizhou,and the genet-ic distance of tea tree resources from different regions was analyzed.[Result]A total of 72 polymorphic loci were amplified from 21 pairs of SSR primers,with an average of 3.43 loci per primer pair.The polymorphic information content(PIC)ranged from 0.19 to 0.76,with an average of 0.51.The alleles were distributed uniformly and exhibited high levels of polymorphism within the populations.The mean values of Nei's gene diversity index(H)and Shannon's information index(I)for the seven tea tree populations were 0.22 and 0.33,respective-ly.The average percentage of polymorphic loci(PPB)was 75%.The genetic distances among populations ranged from 0.0177 to 0.1036.The genetic distances of the 122 Shiqian tea tree resources ranged from 0.10 to 0.67,and when the genetic distance was 0.21,they were di-vided into three major clusters.Group Ⅰ contained 113 resources,Group Ⅱ contained only 1 tea tree resource(SWXD009),and Group Ⅲcontained 8 tea tree resources,namely SWXD-B,SWXD-F,SWXD-H,SWXD-M,SQT3,SQT4,SWX005,SWX006;The tea resources from Changxing village of Wude town were all found in the three groups.[Conclusion]The genetic differentiation among tea tree populations in Shiqian,Guizhou is relatively small.However,there are certain genetic differences among individual plants within populations,especially within the tea tree population of Changxing village,Wude town,indicating a abundant genetic background and a good foundation for selecting and utilizing excellent resources.