Genetic Diversity and Identification of Vaccinium Species Through Microsatellite Analysis

The <i>Vaccinium</i> genus contains about 500 species distributed worldwide but only a limited number of species have been studied for genetic diversity using molecular markers. In this study, a genetic analysis was conducted on three Vaccinium species (four cultivars of <i>V. corymbosum</i>, four wild populations of <i>V. myrtillus</i>, and two cultivars of <i>V. ashei</i>), for a total of 95 genotypes, using eight microsatellite (SSR) loci. A total of 57 alleles were detected. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 14, with an average of 7.25. Six unique alleles in <i>V. corymbosum</i>, four in <i>V. ashei</i>, and three in <i>V. myrtillus</i> were identified as being potential species markers. The dendrogram and principal coordinate analysis revealed a clear division of the three species into distinct groups, with each group further divided into sub-clusters based on the type of cultivars and population origin. The set of SSR primers used in this study demonstrated cross-species transferability, allowing their utilization in <i>V. ashei</i> and <i>V. myrtillus</i>, and can be used as a reliable tool for cultivar/population and species identification in blueberries.