Genetic relatedness among cultivated and wild mulberry (Moraceae: Morus) as revealed by inter-simple sequence repeat analysis in China

The genetic diversity of 27 mulberry (Morus spp.) genotypes mainly from China was investigated using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to assist in addressing breeding objectives and conserving existing genetic resources. Of the 22 primers screened, 15 produced highly reproducible ISSR bands. Using these 15 primers, 138 discernible DNA fragments were generated with 126 (91.3%) being polymorphic, indicating considerable genetic variation among the mulberry genotypes studied. Genetic similarity ranged from 0.6014 between Yu 2 and Yu 711 to 0.9493 between Cuizhisang and Dejiang 10. The phenetic dendrogram based on ISSR data generated by the unweighed pair group method with arithmetical averages (UPGMA) method grouped the 27 accessions into two major clusters: cluster I, cultivated mulberry species (M. multicaulis Perr., M. alba Linn., M. atropurpurea oxb., M. bombycis Kiodz., M. australis Poir., M. rotundiloba Kiodz., M. alba var. pendula Dipp., M. alba var. macrophylla Loud., and M. alba var. venose Delile.); and cluster II, wild mulberry species (M. cathayana Hemsl., M. laevigata Wall., M. wittiorum Hand-Mazz., M. nigra Linn., and M. mongolica Schneid.). Our molecular analyses agree with the existing morphological classification of Morus and clarify the genetic relationships among mulberry species. Key words: Morus L., genetic diversity, inter-simple sequence repeat, relatedness