Evaluation of genetic diversity in Amygdalus mira (Koehne) Ricker using SSR and ISSR markers

Amygdalus mira (Koehne) Ricker, originated in China, is a wild fruit tree distributed in Tibet with high economic and ecological value. To conserve its future breeding and germplasm resources, much information about genetic diversity of A. mira should be obtained. In this study, two DNA-based molecular markers, simple sequence repeat (SSR) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), were used for genetic diversity evaluations of 46 samples from four regions including Bomi (BM), Langkazi (LKZ), Mainling (ML) and Linzhi (LZ) in Tibet. Through combined analysis of SSR and ISSR, high levels of polymorphism (75.42 %) were observed, indicating that SSR and ISSR were efficient methods to detect genetic diversity of natural A. mira populations; all the samples were divided into two major clusters at the similarity coefficient of 0.54; the highest H and I values were observed in LZ population; most genetic variations occurred within populations; there is no significant relationship between genetic distance of populations and geographic distribution. For conversation of A. mira, ex situ conversation is a desired strategy needed to be established in the future.