Wang Liyuan

Genetic diversity of tea landraces using SSR markers.

Appropriate assessment of genetic diversity in tea landraces is the prerequisite of conservation and utilization of these valuable genetic resources.Ninety-one individual tea plants,from Longjing tea landrace population,were used in this study.Computer simulation was utilized to study the changes of genetic diversity parameters influenced by the number of samples and alleles per SSR locus.The results showed that the sampling number differentially affected the genetic diversity parameters.Only when the sample number was higher than 15,the parameters tended to be stable.There were also large effects of the number of alleles per SSR locus on the genetic diversity,which was closely associated with the sample number.It was found when the number of alleles per SSR locus was five,at least 24 individual tea plants were needed for reaching to 90% of the total genetic diversity of tea landraces.The results are useful for providing scientific basis for the assessment of genetic diversity and appropriate conservation strategies of tea landraces.