Abstract:

For better exploiting pomegranate resources in Sichuan and Yunnan, we analysed the DNA polymorphism of 42 pomegranate cultivars by AFLP markers.NTSYSpc-2.10 software was used to analyze and the result indicated that the genetic similarity coefficient (S_g) ranged from 0.712 7 to 0.925 4 with an average of 0.814 2; An analysis with PopGen32 software revealed that 362 bands amplified by 5 pairs of polymorphic AFLP primers had 235 polymorphic loci,the percentage of polymorphic bands was 65.66%. The effective number of alleles per locus (N_e),Neis gene diversity (H),Shannon information index (I) were respectively 1.260 7,0.160 3,0.253 1,suggesting that there was relative great genetic diversity among pomegranate germplasm in Sichuan and Yunnan cultivars.UPGMA method was used to construct a phylogenetic tree. The 42 cultivars were isolated completely by 5 pairs of AFLP primers, with genetic similarity coefficient (S_g) 0.82 for the threshold value,and the 42 pomegranate cultivars in Sichuan and Yunnan were divided into four taxa,which showed genetic relationship among the 42 pomegranate cultivars in Sichuan and Yunnan at molecular level and would be helpful for future research and utilization of the pomegranate germplasm. Additionally, 18 specific bands were detected,which would be used as referential identification tags for the relevant 13 pomegranate cultivars.

Key words: pomegranate (Punica granatum), AFLP, genetic diversity, genetic relationship, Sichuan, Yunnan