Assessing the genetic diversity of taro germplasm collection in Vietnam using simple sequence repeat markers

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the genetic diversity of 253 taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) germplasm accessions collected in Vietnam at the molecular level using 20 Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers. High genetic diversity in the taro germplasm accessions were detected with 100% polymorphic SSR loci, and 89 alleles were obtained at the 20 SSR loci with an average of 4.45 alleles per locus, of which 14 markers had high polymorphism (3 alleles/locus). Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values obtained at 20 SSR loci ranged from 0.31 (Ce0078) to 0.85 (HK34), with an average of 0.65. The genetic similarity coefficient within the accessions ranged from 0.39 to 1.00. All 253 accessions were classified into 2 groups at a genetic similarity level of 0.60; one of the groups (group 2) was divided into 8 sub-groups at a genetic similarity level of 0.64. Some accessions (such as 28279 and SP-19-009; SP-19-061 and SP-19-023; 28278 and SP-19-006) with a high genetic similarity coefficient (1.00) showed a very close genetic relationship, while others (such as 10063 and 11544) with a low genetic similarity coefficient (0.39) showed a fairly distant genetic relationship. The study’s results provide a foundation for preserving and breeding taro in Vietnam. Five taro accessions (28211, SP-19-017, T.3578, T.3515, and 10098) carrying specific alleles that could be identified by 6 SSR markers (uq55–112, uq73–164, HK35, Ce0078, HK22, and HK31) were detected. Furthermore, the SSR marker approach showed the potential application in identifying genetic relationships and distinguishing different taro cultivars.

KEYWORDS:

• SSR polymorphism
• Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott
• PIC values
• similarity coefficient
• specific alleles

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam for sponsoring funds to implement the project “Research, evaluation and development of taro genetic resources in Northern Vietnam” code NVQG-2019/ĐT.05 for the period 2019 - 2023.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data that support the findings reported in this study will be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author contributions

BHN and XVN designed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. TTL and TBHV performed the experiments. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2024.2361446

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Program for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Genetic Resources to 2025, orientation to 2030 of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam under “Research, evaluation and development of taro genetic resources in North of Vietnam” project, code number: [NVQG-2019/ĐT.05].