Evaluation of molecular genetic diversity of wild apple Malus sieversii populations from Zailiysky Alatau by microsatellite markers

The territory of Kazakhstan is part of the distribution range of Malus sieversii, which is one of the ancestors of cultivated apple tree varieties. The collected samples of Sievers apple leaves from five populations growing in the Zailiysky Alatau region served as a source not only for the creation of a bank of genomic DNA but also for determination of the wild apple genetic polymorphism. The seven microsatellite markers used in this study revealed 86 alleles with different frequencies, as well as the characteristic pools of rare alleles for each of the populations. Molecular genetic analysis showed a high level of genetic diversity (Ho = 0.704, PIC = 0.752, I = 1.617). Moreover, interpopulation variability accounted only for 7.5% of total variability, confirming the genetic closeness of the populations examined. Based on phylogenetic analysis, it was demonstrated that the Bel’bulak and Almaty Reserve populations were closest to each other, while the most distant were the Ketmen and Great Almaty gorge populations, which suggests the dependence of genetic distance on the geographical.