Candidate gene based characterization of common bean genotypes

A set of 96 common bean genotypes were characterized using 25 candidate gene based SSR markers associated with yield traits. Twenty three SSR markers were found polymorphic and their discriminatory power estimation was performed on the basis of PIC, resolving power and marker index that mainly explain ability of molecular markers to distinguish genotypes. An average of 0.33 PIC was observed where highest value was exhibited by the primer BM184. The primers BM170 and Bmd8 generated four alleles whereas BM170 showed maximum marker index of 1.28 and highest resolving power of 1.89 was found in case of primer BM180. Further, the genotypes were grouped in three major clusters based on DARwin5 software. High level of genetic diversity observed within the genotypes could be used to accelerate genetic improvement of germplasm in common bean targeting yield attributing traits.