Genetic diversity in wild relatives of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) as revealed by simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers

Abstract

The genetic diversity in wild cowpea was assessed using cowpea derived simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A total of forty eight wild cowpea\nlines collected from diverse geographical locations in Africa were used for the study. Twelve SSR markers were selected for amplification of DNA\nof the test lines and these produced a total of ninety polymorphic bands. A dendrogram constructed using unweighted pair group using mathematical\naverages (UPGMA) analysis distinguished forty three accessions out of a total of forty eight accessions used for the study implying that a great\ndiversity in wild cowpea. Accessions from Southern part of Africa have the highest polymorphism information content (PIC) values suggesting a\nhigh level of diversity from that region and is likely to be center of diversity of wild cowpea. The allele number per primer varied from 4 to 13 with\nan average of 7.5 alleles. The SSR, VM 36 showed the highest number of alleles with the PIC value of 0.870. This analysis revealed that SSR\nmarkers are useful tools in assessing the level of genetic diversity in wild cowpea.