Genetic diversity among a world collection of spring oat

Abstract

We have evaluated 116 oat lines cultivars for genetic diversity using the AFLP fingerprinting method. The oat lines originated from breeding programs in Europe (75), North America (30), South America (6), Asia and Oceania (5). Leaf tissue was harvested and genomic DNA was extracted. The DNA was digested with MseI and Sse8387I. Two step PCR amplification was applied and eight primer combinations with two selective nucleotides each were used to generate the fingerprints. For fragment detection we used a LICOR 4200 DNA analyser. We could visually score 87 clear polymorphisms and collected these using a binary code in a spreadsheet. Genetic similarity was calculated according to the Jaccard index. The similarity matrix was further analysed by applying UPGMA cluster analysis and multi-dimensional scaling. Based on the cluster tree 12 groups were detected, primarily reflecting geographic origin of the lines. Many of the European lines grouped closely together in two main cluster-branches. As expected often lines from the same breeding program and lines related by descent were grouped together, with a few exceptions. Multi-dimensional scaling showed close clustering of most European lines around the center of the scatterplot. Lines from overseas origin were scattered more widely. This indicates that within the European material the genetic diversity is smaller compared to the diversity in overseas germplasm. We expect that European oat breeding could benefit from introducing adapted overseas lines in the crossing program because this may increase genetic variation in the breeding populations and thus enhance the potential for selection of improved lines.