Evaluation of genetic diversity among persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) collection lines and cultivars using simple sequence repeat markers.

Genetic diversity among 30 accessions of persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) collection lines and cultivars was evaluated by using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. From 22 SSR primer sets, a total of 469 polymorphic markers were detected among 17 cultivars and 13 collection lines. Analysis of pair-wise genetic similarity coefficient (Nei-Li) and unweighed pair-group method with arithmetic averaging (UPGMA) clustering revealed two main clusters including three subclusters for clusterI and two subclusters for clusterII. The collection lines were classified into the same group with their check cultivars that showed similarities in phenotypic characteristics. However, these collection lines were clearly discriminated from check cultivars by marker genotypes. Genetic similarity co-efficiency was 0.164 in average and the highest (0.31) similarity was observed between ‘Jiro’ and ‘Maegawajiro’. The lowest similarity (0.02) was observed from ‘Rojo Brillante’ of clusterIin comparison to clusterII. Except for ‘Jiro’ and ‘Maegawajiro’, it was possible to identify each cultivar and collection line based on the SSR fingerprints, suggesting that SSR markers can be useful for protecting intellectual property on newly developed cultivars.