Genetic diversity of leafy amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor L.) resources in Vietnam

Leafy amaranths, which are consumed as traditional food in Asia and Africa, are now considered among the most promising vegetables. In Vietnam, leafy amaranths, particularly Amaranthus tricolor L., are important summer vegetables due to their excellent nutritional values and high tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, this species has not been subjected to systematic breeding. Here we describe species identification and evaluation of the genetic diversity of Vietnamese amaranth collection by using matK and simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Our phylogenetic analysis based on the matK marker classified the species of 68% of the accessions, of which 120 belonged to A. tricolor. We developed 21 SSR markers, which amplified a total of 153 alleles in 294 A. tricolor accessions originating from Vietnam and overseas, with a mean allelic richness of 7.29 per marker, observed heterozygosity of 0.14, expected heterozygosity of 0.38, and polymorphic information content of 0.35. The STRUCTURE and FST analysis indicated a positive relationship between geographic distance and genetic differentiation among most of the overseas groups and the Vietnamese collection, but not among geographic groups within the Vietnamese collection. Vietnamese amaranths could be divided into two major types, one common in East Asia and the other one unique to Vietnam.