Sequence-Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP) Markers Based Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Analysis of Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the key vegetable oil yielded crop and widely distributed in the southern region of China. The present study aimed at analyzing the genetic diversity and population structure of 223 oil palm accessions collected from four provinces of China by using the sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers. A set of 33 SRAP molecular markers were employed to analyze genetic diversity as well as population structure across 223 oil palm accessions. Out of 514 amplified bands, 487 (94.75%) bands were found to be polymorphic. The PIC value (polymorphic information content) of detected bands was from 0.38 to 0.51, with 0.46 of average. The STRUCTURE analysis categorized the 223 oil palm accessions into three subpopulations. The UPGMA based clustering classified them into three major clusters. The correlation between the population subdivisions and the genetic relationships among oil palm accessions was revealed by UPGMA and Bayesian STRUCTURE analyses. The principal coordinate analysis also confirmed a similar grouping of accessions as revealed by the UPGMA dendrogram and STRUCTURE analysis. AMOVA analysis also revealed the variance of 24% among subpopulations and 76% within subpopulations. The present investigation provided valuable information on population structure and genetic diversity of oil palm populations in China for molecular breeding research in oil palm.