[Genetic diversity and fingerprinting of <i>Elaeagnus angustifolia</i> based on SSR molecular markers].

DNA fingerprinting can reveal the genetic diversity of <i>Elaeagnus angustifolia</i> germplasm resources and clarify the source and genetic background of <i>E</i>. <i>angustifolia</i> germplasm, which are the preconditions for the breeding of new varieties, the identification and protection of germplasm resources, and the comprehensive development of the <i>E</i>. <i>angustifolia</i> industry considering both ecological and economic benefits. We employed 11 pairs of primers with high polymorphism, clear bands, and high reproducibility to analyze the genetic diversity of 150 <i>E</i>. <i>angustifolia</i> germplasm accessions from Gansu and Beijing by the simple sequence repeat (SSR) molecular markers. We then employed the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) to perform the cluster analysis based on genetic distance and analyzed the genetic structure of the 150 germplasm accessions based on a Bayesian model in Structure v2.3.3. The genetic diversity analysis revealed the mean number of alleles (<i>Na</i>) of 7.636 4, the mean number of effective alleles (<i>Ne</i>) of 2.832 6, the mean Shannon genetic diversity index (<i>I</i>) of 1.178 1, the mean Nei's gene diversity index (<i>H</i>) of 0.582 1, the mean observed heterozygosity (<i>Ho</i>) of 0.489 9, the mean expected heterozygosity (<i>He</i>) of 0.584 0, the mean polymorphism information content (<i>PIC</i>) of 0.535 4, and the mean genetic similarity (<i>GS</i>) of 0.831 5. These results suggested that the <i>E</i>. <i>angustifolia</i> germplasm resources we studied exhibited significant genetic differences and rich genetic diversity. The cluster analysis revealed that the tested materials can be classified into 3 groups, with the main genetic distance (<i>GD</i>) of 0.422 9. The clustering results were not completely consistent with the geographic origin. The population structure analysis classified the germplasm accessions into 2 populations. We used 8 pairs of primers with high PIC to construct the fingerprints of 150 <i>E</i>. <i>angustifolia</i> germplasm accessions. The present study successfully constructs the DNA fingerprints and clarified the genetic relationship of the <i>E</i>. <i>angustifolia</i> germplasm resources in Gansu and Beijing, providing a theoretical basis for germplasm resource identification, breeding of elite varieties, application in gardening, and molecular-assisted breeding of <i>E</i>. <i>angustifolia</i>.